Crime Lord
by icancounttoduck
Summary: What if Clark became Kal permanently.
1. Chapter 1

"Clark, don't do this!"

Clark turned towards his friend, " Chloe, look at the news report the mine collapsed on a gas line, there are 100 people down there and if I don't get to them then the line could explode." He turned towards the door to leave when she grabbed his arm.

" Don't you remember your last trip underground? The whole area is littered with meteor rock." She grabbed him by the face and made him look at her. " You could die!"

She watched Clark's face take on a look that only appeared in moments like these and she knew there was no stopping. " I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that there was a rush of wind and he was gone. Chloe turned her attention back to the television. She knew she wouldn't be able to see the results of Clark's work until miners mysteriously started to show up and that worried her more than anything. " Why does he have to be so damn selfless." Chloe wiped a tear from her eye.

" Who are you talking about sweetie?" Martha Kent walked into the house and made her way to the living room.

" Who do you think?" She nodded towards the television and Martha looked to see what was worrying Chloe so much. It didn't take her long to figure it out.

" He didn't go in there did he?" Martha had heard Clark talk about the collapse in the tunnel with Lex and knew how dangerous the mines were to him. It only took one look from Chloe to confirm her fears.

They both stared at the T.V. hoping for some sort of confirmation that Clark was all right. Sure enough little by little miners began to slowly make their way onto the screen.

We have unconfirmed reports that miraculously many of the miners trapped in the collapse have begun to appear at the beginning of the mine. Even more unbelievable is that some of theses men have been unconscious. We will try to find out more details as the story progresses…

Both Martha and Chloe sighed in relief if more and more kept showing up, it mean that Clark was still running at full power. All they had to do now was wait for him to get the last of the victims and come back home.

" Thank God." They both said in unison, they took a sigh of relief and Martha was about to ask what had led up to this but they both froze at the noise that emanated from the box behind them.

"BOOOOOOOOOM!" Time slowed down for the both of them as they turned around and both vaguely heard the announcer from the television speaking. " we are receiving reports that the gas line below has indeed exploded, experts say that anyone trapped within five hundred feet would be within the projected blast range."[/i] Both women knew that was the reporter's tactful way of saying all those trapped in the mine, were now probably dead.

Chloe had the sense to know that keeping Mrs. Kent calm was probably the most important thing to do right now. " Okay Mrs. Kent he's probably fine, remember he's pretty much invulnerable."

Martha fell back onto the couch with a stunned expression on her face as the last few minutes went through her head over and over again. Chloe not knowing what to do simply sat down right beside her. It was a couple of hours before any noise was made and it wasn't from the two women in the room. Both were lost in their own thoughts knowing that their wasn't any reason Clark shouldn't have been back by now.

" Hello. Doesn't anyone answer their phone around here?" Lois lane walked in and dropped her bag on the counter before continuing into the living room, when she saw the ghost white complexions of both women she instantly grew concerned.

" Chloe, Mrs. Kent what's wrong?" She sat down in the chair next to them before Chloe turned her expressionless face towards her.

" There…there…was a collapse at the mine…and…and…" Lois was getting scared when she saw tears well up in both women's eyes, but didn't have time to ask any questions before she was distracted by lights outside.

As the blue and red lights showed through the window there was a knock on the door and Lois was now down right scared and she was now realizing that there was one person who was conspicuously absent at the moment.

They all made their way to the door and Lois was the one to open it and she wasn't pleased to see two officers with their hats in their hands. " Good evening Mrs. Kent."

" Officer." She managed to get out in a small voice.

" I take it you heard about the mine collapse." Martha only nodded her head in response; " Well about half of the miners who were trapped were carried to safety by a man who for whatever reason risked his life to go into the mines when no one else thought it was possible." Lois and Chloe were growing more and more weary with every word. " In fact the only reason we know it was Clark was because the survivors saw Clark entering and exiting the mine a few times, and the miners who were conscious caught glimpses of his face when they could." None of the women liked the word survivors and now new beyond a doubt where this conversation was going. " On his last trip down the gas line exploded, there were no survivors. I'm sorry mam but your son was caught in the blast, but you should know that he was a hero."

All three women stood in shock before Lois and Chloe had to catch Martha as she broke down.

******************************************

There was no body to bury at Clark's funeral, no remains had been found and it was assumed that he was incinerated in the blast. Chloe had been in denial until she walked by the mine and saw the meteor rock on the ground.

" All of us knew what a hero Clark was before he went into the mine…" Whatever the officer was saying was nothing but white noise to Lois. She couldn't quite believe he was gone. Sure he put himself in danger a lot, but he had always come back without a scratch on him.

She had no idea what to do, she had never realized it while he had been here but he was kind of an anchor in her life. No matter what article Chloe was researching, or where Mrs. Kent was, Clark was always there no matter what the situation. A safety net that she realized she never thought she'd lose.

She looked at Chloe and Martha; Chloe was still in a state of shock while Martha was inconsolable and Lois had no idea what to do. She was still dealing with how the loss was affecting her and honestly couldn't be much help.

Chloe cursed whoever it was that had decided to build the mine near meteor rock, wondering what life would hold for her now without her best friend. Every future she had ever pictured involved him in one way or another, and without him she felt lost. Jimmy had come back from Europe for the funeral and was doing everything he could to help, but in the end it was no use.

The empty coffin was lowered into the grave and everyone at the funeral rose to pay their respects, Chloe looked down and saw a green meteor rock and couldn't help but feel like it was a cruel joke to have it at his funeral and picked it up to toss it as far as possible. She got a few odd looks but it didn't bother her though, these people only knew Clark as the golden boy of Smallville not the true man that he was. She hated those meteor rocks more than anything for taking away her best friend.

If only anyone had known that while there was green meteor rock on the surface, within the mine all of the meteor rock had been red…

***********************************************

6 years later…

" Three cheers for Lane and Sullivan." The bullpen let out a roar and both reporters smiled. Neither normally would have liked the attention but they couldn't help it, this was so big they were both guaranteed a Pulitzer nomination.

" I don't know how you two managed to bust the leader of Intergang but I'm so proud I'm tempted to give you the week off." Perry White was in a rare good mood, he couldn't have been prouder of the two women he couldn't help but see as daughters.

" Really Chief, I could use a vacation." Lois smirked as he shook his head.

" I said I was tempted, but I still expect you here the same time as usual tomorrow morning. But feel free to take the rest of the day off." With that Perry went back to his office leaving both Lois and Chloe to themselves.

Chloe still wore a big grin on her face as she turned to her cousin, " I can't believe we did it cuz."

Lois sat back in her chair and put on a triumphant smirk, " What can I say we're just that good."

Chloe sat in the chair across from her cousin, " Even though we did have a little bit of help from the boyfriends."

Lois shrugged her shoulders; it was true that both Bruce and Ollie had helped towards the end. But it was Chloe and herself that had found out that Trask was the head of Intergang and had gotten the hard proof they had needed to put him away for life.

" Maybe, but we were the one's to do most of the work they simply saved us from the mass of thugs trying to kill us." Chloe laughed slightly at her cousins stubbornness but it was cut short when the phone rang.

Lois answered, " Dailey Planet, Lois Lane speaking."

" After five years on the top floor you still answer it the same way you did on the first one." Lois smiled at the sound of her boyfriend's voice.

" Hey Bruce, to what do I owe the mid day phone call." Chloe rolled her eyes, sometimes she wondered how they had each landed their own separate billionaire boyfriends, who just happened to be super heroes on the side.

" Well me and a friend of mine were reading about the fall of Intergang and wanted to know if we could celebrate with the two ladies responsible." She could see him smirking from the other end of the phone line.

" You know, saying that you and Ollie wanted to take us to lunch would have been a lot easier."

Bruce laughed from the other end of the phone, " Yea, but my way seemed more billionaire like."

" Well you do have a point there." One of Lois's favorite things about Bruce was that he was just a guy who happened to be really rich. The money hadn't gone to his head at all.

" Besides it will nice to have dinner with my girlfriend knowing that Intergang is on the run and therefore not worrying about killing the reporter trying to uncover it's secrets." Lois rolled her eyes at Bruce's flattery.

" How about we meet at Chili's in an hour." It was simple but Lois just felt like having a relaxing meal in a casual environment, and she could tell that her cousin felt the same way.

" I'll look forward to it." With that Bruce hung up the phone and Lois turned back to her cousin.

Chloe was the first to speak, " So I take it we have lunch in an hour." Lois nodded her head. It was true what Bruce had said; as she sat there police were rounding up Inetgang members by the boatload. Not only had she and Chloe incriminated a handful of them but some of those arrested were already turning in their partners in crime for reduced sentences. As far as Metropolis was concerned Intergang was over and it was all thanks to Lois Lane and Chloe Sullivan.

********************************************************

Las Vegas, Nevada

Three black Aston Martin Vanquishes pulled up to the Phoenix hotel and casino. It had been open for about three years and was still the nicest and most popular destination on the Las Vegas strip.

The inhabitants of the car stepped out and the lone passenger of the middle car was surrounded by what onlookers could only assume were five body guards. They walked with enough space between them and the man to be comfortable enough, but close enough that they could speak if necessary.

The man in the center had dark unruly hair that was longer than average and was wearing an all black suit with a full length jacket that cost more than most people's entire wardrobe. He was sporting Oakley sunglasses and sported a look that showed he was clearly not pleased.

The manager walked up and was allowed to stand beside the man, " Welcome back sir, would you like to hit the table's before retiring for the night."

" No tonight I'll be going straight to my room, " he finally turned to look at the manager, " Are my guests here?"

The manager nodded his head, " Yes sir, all are waiting in your penthouse." The man only nodded his head

" How's business?" The manager was used to this question and already had his folder pulled out.

" Here are the numbers sir." The man took the folder and only looked them over briefly looked them over. He didn't know how but his boss could always see an error in the numbers.

" Everything looks good." They paused as they made it to the man's private elevator and called it down.

" When's your next raise do?" The manager looked up surprised, it was an odd experience looking up to a man that was half your age.

" I believe it's in six months." The man nodded his head as the elevator doors opened.

The man walked in with three bodyguards as two stayed behind and stood on each side of the elevator. " Tell the men in accounting to bump that up to the next pay check."

" Thank you sir." The elevator doors closed and the manager left with a smile on his face.

" Why the raise Boss?" One of the bodyguards spoke to the man; they were now in the privacy of the elevator and could speak freely.

" Because a man who can run a casino as well as he can, and yet still be blind to what goes on here is a man worth keeping happy." The bodyguards smirked and nodded; somehow their boss was always thinking three steps ahead of everyone else.

As the man stepped out of the elevator two of the guards took their posts on the outside of the elevator as the one remaining guard walked two steps behind and to the side of the man. As the man entered the doorway the remaining guard took his post out side the door.

The man entered his penthouse suite to see eleven men sitting around his table. Normally it would have been twelve but the remaining member was currently behind bars. It was a tradition that Intergang had twelve lieutenants and one leader, this man was the unchallenged leader of Intergang and no one dared question that, not after what happened to the last man who tried to usurp power.

" Thank you all for coming, I felt it necessary to meet as a group to discuss yesterday's events." He walked to the head of the table and sat down as all eyes were on him.

" I take it you all know what happened so I wont bore you with the details." The man pressed a button and an article titled " The Fall of Intergang." appeared on a large screen from behind him.

" We all know this isn't true. Trask was taken into custody and a large portion of the Metropolis operation had been compromised, but the rest of our business is still running strong." He paused and took in the looks of the other men across the table, and the eagerness their eyes held. Metropolis was the most coveted city within Intergang. Whoever was in control of operations there made the most money and gained the most influence the only problem was that it was much harder to be a criminal there than in any other city in the world. In Metropolis you had to contend not only with Luthor, but with cops who for the most part could not be bought and reporters who could not be scared away. The only advantages Intergang had over the city now were one, that the city believed that Intergang had fallen apart. And Second that no one knew the members of Intergang's identity unless a member betrayed the organization.

" What I want to know is who gave Trask up." There was a silence until the guy who ran operations in England spoke up.

" My contacts are on it as we speak, I have been helped by a few of my partners at this table and we believe we will have his name by the end of tomorrow." The man nodded his head, many would have been angry they didn't already have a name but the man knew that things such as this took time.

" As you've all probably guessed I called this meeting so that we could decide who would take over Metropolis." All the people around him sat up a little bit straighter.

" Originally I was going to do as we normally do and decide together who had earned it but on the way here I came to a decision myself." The others in the room were surprised, the boss had a tendency to make important decisions as a group. In the end it was his decision but all the lieutenants appreciated that their input was taken.

" I know that this is out of character, but after looking over the extent to the damage done to our Metropolis operation I realized how hard it would be to get it back on track. So after much consideration, I've decided to take it over myself." There was a murmur amongst the group, normally the boss like to keep out of direct business for anonymity reasons, but they all knew he would do a better job than anyone else could.

" As a trade off, the next lieutenant will be selected by you all and when you have decided you can notify me. As for the city he will run I want him in Macau." The person who ran Chinese operations was about to speak up but the boss cut him off. " Don't worry Kenji, I still have complete faith in you, but China is becoming a larger business opportunity than any one anticipated. Just as America had multiple representatives I believe more will be required there." This silenced Kenji and he sat down.

The boss stood and turned his back to the group as he walked up to the screen, the man in charge of Gotham operations spoke up, " Do you want us to deal with the reporters who named Trask."

The man looked at the names on the article and shook his head, " No, I will deal with them myself, but I expect the person who betrayed us to be waiting for me when I arrive in Metropolis, and I expect him to be unharmed." A few of the Lietenants smirked not envying the position the person who had turned on the group was in.

The boss made his way to look outside at the lights of Las Vegas. He waived a hand behind him and the group new it was time to leave. When they were all gone the man took a deep breath and removed his coat and sunglasses. He smirked a little as he took in the few of sin city. He doubted Metropolis was ready but one thing was sure, Kal was coming home.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe was woken from her slumber by a loud banging noise emanating from the other room. It didn't take her long to figure out that it was someone knocking on the door. She turned over to see if Ollie was getting up to answer it but found that she was alone. She shook her head wondering how many nights Ollie was trying to go without sleep.

Both Bruce and Ollie had decided to move to Metropolis for a while, the outside world assumed that they had finally decided to take the plunge and move in with their girlfriends, but those who truly knew the two also knew it was for a completely different reason. Both Batman and the Green Arrow had realized that with Intergang weakened, there would be a turf war for power in the city and that Metropolis would need all the help it could get.

" Just a minute!" Chloe rubbed her eyes wondering what was so important that it couldn't have been told to her over the phone, or when the sun had come up. When she finally made it to the door and threw it open she was actually unsurprised to find her cousin on the other side. At the look on her face she suddenly became worried." Lois what's wrong."

" Haven't you seen the news?" Chloe became confused; it was five in the morning why would she have watched the news.

Chloe followed Loi[i]s into the living room and sat down as Lois turned on the T.V. What Chloe saw shocked her, " …The car lost control and went careening off of the bridge and into the Metropolis River. Both officers made it out of the water with minor injuries, however search attempts have yet to find the body of William Sykes…"[/i] Chloe turned the T.V. off knowing that the reporter would actually know less than the women in the room.

" Do you think he's dead?" Chloe got her answer with one look from her cousin.

" Here's what I don't get, how did they figure out it was Sykes?" Lois voiced the question both the women were thinking, Sykes had been arrested to make it look as though he had been ratted out as well. They were transferring him from a local jail, to a federal one and yet somehow what was left of Intergang had gotten to him.

" I don't know Lo, but I do know one thing, if Intergang could have found out it was Sykes this quickly and arranged for him to be taken out with as much security as there was around him, then their much more powerful than either of us realized."

Lois nodded her head, she had called her source from Metropolis P.D. and they had said that there wasn't any proof that there was foul play other than who the victim was. For all intensive purposes it seemed like an accident. Of course anyone who knew that Sykes was the man that had turned in Trask knew that it was no accident, but how could Intergang have not only found out who the leak was, but set up such a clean hit in only the two weeks since the article had come out.

" How Chlo? The docks have been shut down and they've closed every business that was linked to Trask. Intergang should seriously be hurting right now" Lois shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose; she knew the answer but didn't want to voice it. She and Chloe had spent almost six months trying to crack this case and for an entire two weeks she believed they were responsible for bringing down the biggest crime boss in the country, she couldn't imagine the work that would be involved if they had been wrong.

" Lo, you know as well as I do that Intergang probably has a thousand dummy corporations out there that own plenty of businesses in Metropolis. I just thought that without Trask Intergang would either fall apart or be to busy tearing it selves to shreds in a fight for power, to do anything about the investigation." Lois had to agree, criminals weren't exactly known for being unselfish and looking at the big picture.

" I agree, what worries me is that according to Bruce there hasn't been any sign of Intergang over the past couple of weeks." Chloe quirked an eyebrow.

" If there hasn't been any sign of Intergang then why are Ollie and Bruce hitting both ends of the candles so hard?" Chloe smirked when Lois rolled her eyes feeling better that she was having the same issues.

" Something about the calm before the storm and needing to be ready." Lois sighed, like Chloe she had been waking up alone a lot, normally that wouldn't have been a big deal; but Bruce had moved to Metropolis for god sake, was it so hard for him to just get one night's sleep.

Lois shook out of her thoughts and got back to the issue. " That's another problem, right now we need to focus on Sykes. If Intergang mobilized that quickly…"

Chloe jumped in, " And there's no sign of a power struggle on the streets….

Lois took over again," Then either what Bruce told me was right and it's the calm before the storm or…"

" Trask wasn't the leader of Intergang…" Chloe fell back against the couch as she said it realizing the implications.

Lois finished the sentence for her, " And we have a whole new investigation on our hands." Lois almost couldn't believe it, if Trask wasn't the boss than he was reporting to someone, and whoever that person was, would have to have had more power than either woman could have imagined.

***************************************************

Kal walked into the Elysian Fields and smirked. It was a unique club in which the cocktail waitresses all wore togas and each of the dancers dressed up as a different Greek goddess; It was also the most exclusive club in town, Kal was glad it had been part of one of Intergangs corporation rather than Trask's personal holdings.

" This way boss." The bouncer of the club led him to a large corner booth that had an unobstructed view of the stage. Kal had heard about the club but had never seen it with his own two eyes before. He had avoided Metropolis for a long time, after all why risk being recognized if he didn't have to; But six years had passed between now and his supposed death and the odds of anyone connecting the dots were slim.

He had also grown both a Goatee and mustache, when he looked in a mirror he was confidant enough that even his own mother wouldn't be able to tell it was him. He had almost thrown in a pair of fake glasses but decided that it would make him look too geeky.

He was broken out of his thoughts when one of the girls came over with a sexy smirk on her face, she had a wreath of flowers in her hair and was dressed in a sexy green outfit. " Would you like anything to drink boss?"

Kal quirked an eyebrow at the girl, " You don't look like a waitress to me." She simply sat down in the booth across from him. Kal had to admit he was intrigued; most of the girls would already be in his lap.

" Doesn't mean I can't get you a drink." She smirked a little triumphantly; Kal assumed it was because he hadn't kicked her out.

Kal looked her up and down before making eye contact, " So which goddess are you supposed to be."

She looked herself up and down and then quirked an eyebrow, " I thought it was pretty obvious that I'm the goddess of nature. The name is Demeter."

Kal nodded his head, " So, what's your real name?"

" That's not something I usually tell a guy the first time I meet him, but I guess the normal rules don't really apply to someone like you do they?" Kal had to admit he liked this girl, she was confident, witty, and straightforward, not to mention drop dead gorgeous.

" You have no idea." She quirked an eyebrow, Kal smirked, as she had subtly been moving closer and closer through the conversation.

" My name's Carol, what's yours." Kal quirked an eyebrow, he wouldn't be surprised if she already knew it. He knew that the girls at these exclusive clubs always had sensitive information that some loose-lipped drunk had given them.

" You can call me Kal." She was now within arms reach and he shook her hand fighting the urge to just pull her against him.

" So what made you come to Metropolis Kal?" he laughed a little bit knowing that she knew the answer to that question.

" I'm in town on business, beyond that is confidential." She smiled at him, as she finally got close enough to lean against him.

" So…" She got right next to his ear and whispered as she ran a hand up his leg, " Do you want a dance."

He caught her hand and gave her a serious look, " I think we both know that I want a little more than a dance."

They stared each other down before her smirk grew even more seductive, " Well it's to bad this is a strip club, the rules are look but don't touch."

" Well as you said, the rules don't exactly apply to me, and I happen to have access to a private room in the back." She swung a leg over him and straddled him.

" Well then what are we waiting for?" She almost kissed him before standing up and heading towards the private owners sweet that only Kal had access to.

Kal knew she was just using him, all she saw was that he was the boss of Intergang and that by getting into his favor she could be set for life; But as he made his way into the suite and saw her waiting there for him…he couldn't have cared less.

***************************************************

" Please, you've got the wrong guy, I was turned in just like everyone else." The two men Sykes was speaking to didn't show any sign of response as they continued to stand in front of the door and stared at the wall opposite them.

Sykes wasn't sure how long he had spent in the room if he had to guess he would say two days and every time he almost tried to sleep he would be woken with a punch to the side of his torso from one of the guards. His eyes had just closed for the umpteenth time when the door opened; he assumed that it was another shift change, which was why he was surprised when only one man walked in.

Kal closed the door as he took in the surroundings of the room, on each side of the door was a guard, in the center of the room was a man sitting in a chair duct taped to the table in front of him by his wrists. To the left of the table there was mirror positioned so that Sykes could see himself.

" Do you know where you are Sykes?" The voice sent chills down Sykes spine, not because of the voice itself, but because of what it meant.

Kal walked up to the mirror and took in his own appearance, he still wasn't used to the goatee and mustache but decided he liked the new look, Kal was broken out of his musings by Sykes's reply.

" No…I don't even understand why I'm here." He may not have slept for two days but Kal's presence had woken up.

Kal shook his head and made his way to the seat across the table from Sykes and replied, " We are currently under a strip club known as the Elysian Fields." Kal smirked at the surprise in Sykes eyes.

" That's not possible, I was there when Trask sold it to…"

Kal cut him off, " When Trask sold it to a dummy corporation owned and operated by Intergang. You see when you betrayed Intergang."

The fear in Sykes's eyes was evident as he cut Kal off, " I didn't betray anyone, I was turned in by someone just like everyone else."

Kal continued as if Sykes had not spoken, " When you betrayed Intergang you turned Trask over to the reporters, but what you didn't realize was that Trask wasn't the leader of Intergang…. I am."

Syke's eyes went wide but he didn't say anything. " Didn't you wonder why your boss only did business in Metropolis. Intergang is a global organization, sure it may have other names, the Triads, the masons, the Illuminati but in the end they all report to me."

Normally Sykes would have thought everything he was saying was bull**** but there was something about the man across the table that radiated power.

" I normally let them handle their own business but they know that they report to me." Kal paused for a moment and decided the best way to word the next part of this. " Which is why I can't tolerate disloyalty, you see if I did then I might have to deal with more rebellions than I'd know what to do with."

Kal paused again and stood up to make his way towards one of the guards, he whispered in his ear before he stepped outside of the room, " I'm sorry you were down here for so long but I just got into town tonight and had something that needed taking care of." Kal smiled at the memory.

Kal turned back around and went to his previous spot on the other side of the table but this time he chose to stand. " Now on the way here I had the same question running through my mind Sykes, and you're the only one who can answer it."

By now Sykes knew that there was no way out, the man across the table knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the rat. He could only hope it would be quick.

" Why would you knowingly betray Intergang…" Kal scoffed and shook his head,

" Before you were even arrested too. After all they were just a couple of reporters."

Kal was disappointed when Sykes only lowered his head in silence. He looked up from when the guard came back in and tossed him a bat. Kal caught it with one hand as Sykes looked up and finally gave a reply " Just do it."

Kal sighed, he never liked this part but he knew it had to be done. Normally an underling would have handled the dirty work, but he knew this time it had to be himself to deliver the blow. " I'll see you in Hell Sykes."

Sykes only nodded in response before the bat came down on his head.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

" Okay, so what do you two have so far?" Perry White crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at the two reporters.

" Not much chief, I mean we've only had a week. You know it took us six months to break open the Trask story, imagine how long this one will take." Perry nodded his head, he knew Lois was right but the didn't like it, and not just because he wanted the story.

" Listen you two, I don't think you should pursue this story." Both Lois and Chloe let out protests immediately but Perry silenced them and continued. " I know that you want to take down Intergang but I want you to think about this, you two were almost killed going after Trask, imagine the risks of going after whoever's above him." Perry shook his head when all he saw was defiance coming from the women's eyes.

Chloe spoke up beating Lois to the punch, " Chief, we can't just ignore this. I mean, if no one's willing to fight the bad guys then they take over."

Lois nodded her head, " Besides, we know what we're doing."

Perry ran a hand through his head, " I'm not so sure." Once again he had to silence the girls protests before continuing, " This time you won't have as much help, after what happened to Sykes there aren't going to be many willing to help. Not to mention you won't have near the amount of police cooperation as last time."

Neither woman could argue that. A few days ago Sykes's body had shown up in the river. The weird part was that there was no water in his lungs and his skull had been cracked open. The coroner had quickly named the cause of death as the accident, but Lois knew that if that were true the body would have shown up days before it had. To make matters worse, police refused to believe that Trask wasn't Intergang's leader, which meant the Dailey Planet would be on its own.

" We know that Chief and we're being careful, but we can't just sit buy when we know that this guy needs to be brought to justice." Chloe nodded and agreement and Perry sighed knowing she was right. He just had to pray to god that nothing befell the to women.

" Fine, but if you do this no half-assing it, you take your time." He turned specifically to Lois for the next part, " You don't go rushing into something without thinking it through." She nodded her head as Perry turned to Chloe, " And you don't threaten anyone who you shouldn't be threatened." Chloe nodded her head and he went back to addressing both of them. " Most importantly though, is keep your emotions in check. Whoever this guy is he isn't stupid. You don't rise to the top of Intergang and not know how to cover your tracks, and believe me he's keeping an eye on you two now." With that Chloe and Lois were allowed to leave for the day and they choose to head to Lois's place.

When they finally got to it they were ready to relax knowing that as of tomorrow the investigation truly began again and that they wouldn't have much time just to mellow out. They were however surprised to find both Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne waiting for them.

Lois was the first to speak, " Wow, is that my boyfriend," She made a show of looking out the window, " And here when the sun's down, to what do I owe the honor."

Bruce scowled as she kissed him hello, but Ollie was the one to speak, " Actually we thought we'd take you girls out for a nice dinner, as a kind of apology for not being around."

Chloe put her hands on her hips, " You think one dinner makes up for practically disappearing for a week and a half." Lois relaxed against the counter and quirked an eyebrow at Bruce waiting for their answer.

Bruce decided to take over, " Look, I know it may not seem like it but we are sorry. Although to be fair, you each knew when you started dating us that in many situations the job would have to come first."

Lois nodded her head although Chloe still seemed unconvinced. They were both annoyed but the truth was that Bruce was right. In fact Lois had waited a long time before finally giving in to Bruce's advances for just that reason, she knew that although she wanted to be mad, Bruce had made it clear this would happen long ago. Still it didn't mean she couldn't have some fun.

" Fine, you can take us to dinner but I think we both expect some major groveling later." Bruce smirked as Ollie looked at Chloe to see if she agreed.

The blonde rolled her eyes before responding, " Give me some time to get ready and we'll go. Your just lucky I happen to keep a small wardrobe here for cases such as this."

*************************************************************

" Wow you really went all out didn't you?" Lois, Bruce, Ollie, and Chloe made their way to a private booth in the restaurant Metropolis Skies." It was a fancy revolving restaurant that was normally booked for months in advance.

" I told you we were sorry, besides I know how much you like this place. I Figured I'd butter you up with that chocolate dessert you like so much and then grovel." Lois smiled and gave Bruce a kiss of thanks before they took their seats across from Chloe and Ollie.

Chloe smiled, " So boys, how were you able to finagle dinner here, I'm told there booked for months in advance no matter who you are."

Ollie smiled and slid his hand into hers, " Maybe, but when you combine both Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen it's hard to say no."

Both women had to admit they made a good point. " So, what have you boys found out about Intergang?"

Bruce and Ollie exchanged glances before Bruce took over, " Not much, but let's talk about that later, it seems like lately Intergang had become our lives and I'd just like a night without it."

Chloe was about to break in but Lois cut her off. " That sounds nice, but the fact is, I want to bust this guy as quick as we can and working together is the best way to do it. Yes Intergang is going to dominate our lives for awhile but that's just something we need to get used to."

Bruce looked as girlfriend and smirked, ' and she called him obsessed.' " Well so far we don't have much to go on."

Ollie took over at this point, " The streets have actually been quiet. In fact they've been to quiet, whoever the guy leading the organization is has them on a tight leash."

Bruce nodded his head in ascent, " The only leads we have to go on are vague rumors that aren't much help."

" Like what?" Lois took a sip of her drink as she awaited the answer.

" Like that whoever's in charge is apparently a scary S.O.B." Lois rolled her eyes she could have told them that, in fact that was something she was sure they had known already.

Chloe obviously on the same train of thought as Lois voiced the question, " What's so intriguing about that."

Ollie sighed before he answered, " Look you two know that even in secret societies not everything stays a secret." They nodded their head as he continued, " Well from what we understand he's coming to Metropolis to handle the situation you two put him in personally."

Lois's eyes lit up, this was great news. " Wait how is that a vague rumor, I think that's pretty helpful."

Bruce shook his head, " Lois, you're not thinking about the big picture. First we can't be sure it's true. Second even if he is in Metropolis he could be anyone, it's not like he's going to come out into the open, but the scariest thing is that he's coming at all."

Chloe quirked an eyebrow, " What do you mean?"

" If Intergang is truly as big as we believe then there are literally hundreds if not thousands of people the leader could have sent to do his dirt work. If he comes himself there's only a handful of reasons to do so."

" Like what?" Lois was catching on but wanted to make she understood completely.

Bruce sighed, " He's either re-solidifying his power or he's got something planned, and since it doesn't seem like there has been a turf war yet I'd have to say this guy has an iron grip on the organization."

" Which means whatever he's come to do is something he wants to handle himself." Lois finished his sentence before taking a large gulp of her drink. It seemed like every day this story got more complicated, and the leader of Intergang became more dangerous.

****************************************************************

Kal was walking down the sidewalk in a suit and sunglasses. He didn't care if it was nighttime he like wearing the sunglasses, besides they helped prevent people from being able to describe him.

He made it to his destination and found the doors locked. He was a little surprised after all he had walked into the building many times this late at night in the past. Undeterred he walked to the side alley and looked around to make sure that there were no prying eyes.

He slowly flew up to the roof and landed without a sound as he made his way to the rooftop doorway. He smirked when he found it unlocked and then began to make his descent. As he looked around he wondered why such a large building didn't have security cameras in the staircase.

When he reached his destination he opened the door and walked into the main bullpen of the Dailey Planet. He took in the sights; admittedly it looked impressive at one in the morning. He could only imagine what it must look like during normal business hours.

It only took him a minute to find the desks he was looking for, he was not surprised that they were right across form each other. He was originally just going to erase their hard drive's but knew that Chloe's hacking abilities might be able to undue that.

He kneeled down behind each computer and slowly opened up the casing. He located the hard drive in each and simply took it out. Knowing his old friends were smart enough to back up sensitive material he x-rayed both desks and laughed slightly when he found two flash drives. One taped under Chloe's chair, and one stashed inside a book that Lois had cut a small hole in. He simply pulled the locked cabinet open and removed the flash drive from the book before retrieving the one beneath Chloe's chair.

He pause to figure out the best way to go about the second part of his plan. Stealing the computer files was easy the second part not so much. He was broken out of his musings when he heard the elevator door open and maneuvered himself into a shadowy corner. As the man came towards the back wall of offices Kal was even more surprised to see Perry White pull a set of keys out of his pocket.

Knowing he had an opportunity he picked up a stapler from one of the desks and silently made his way towards the older man. Just as Perry began to turn the door Kal stuck the stapler against his back and spoke, " I wouldn't open that door if I were you."

Perry froze, in utter shock. It took a moment to regain his composure enough to say anything. " What do you want?"

" To talk." Perry heard the voice and his mind began racing at the implications of the situation he was in. He had a gun to his back and was alone in a very large building. He needed to find a way out of this and quick.

" Well you have my attention." Perry White was nothing if not good under pressure.

Kal knew he had to choose his next words carefully, " I represent an organization that isn't thrilled with your recent articles, and we would be very great full if you discontinued them."

" Well your going to have to be more specific, we write about a lot of organizations." Perry couldn't believe the situation he was in, he had come back only to pick up a gift for his wife that he had left in his office, and now he was being threatened at gun point.

Kal pushed the stapler a little bit harder, " Why don't you think of which organization would break into the Dailey Planet to threaten you at gun point."

Perry felt the increased pressure and knew not to make another joke. He was about to reply when something surprising happened. The man's phone started ringing.

Kal reached into his pocket annoyed, he had let it be known that he didn't want to be disturbed tonight unless it was an emergency. " Hello."

Perry's mind was racing, if there was a time to get out of this it was while he was distracted. He couldn't even understand what the man behind him was saying as he looked for any available options. When he had finally decided to just take as good of a swing as he could he took a deep breath but froze as the gun's pressure increased. Some how the man behind him had known he was about try something.

Kal shook his head slightly, the so called emergency was that a big spender was making an ass of himself at the club. Normally they would have left him alone, but Kal had decided to make the Elysian Fields his base of operations, which meant no drunken meltdowns allowed. " You know what to do."

The man on the other end of the line hung up and Clark was about to do the same when it stuck him that this was the perfect opportunity to enact phase two. " Ask if it's okay that I meet him at the fields in a couple of hours." Kal paused a second, " Alright I'll be there."

With that Kal hung up and turned back to Perry, " I'm sorry about that, but something came up." He sighed before continuing, " Well Mr. White, I guess this is goodbye."

Perry White's life flashed before his eyes, he had been in a lot of tough situations over the years but this was the first time he truly believed that he was going to die, maybe it was the simplicity of the situation, maybe it was the adrenaline of the moment, he would never know. What he did know was that after a few moments he realized that he was in fact alive.

He slowly turned around and looked around and finally noticed that there was a stapler on the ground. He let out an unbelieving laugh before falling against his door and slowly sliding to the floor not sure if he was pissed he had been duped or happy that he was alive. He was definitely leaning toward the latter.

He sat there for at least twenty minutes before the man's words sprang to the forefront of his mind.[i] " Ask him if it's okay that I meet him at the fields in a couple of hours"

[/i]

Perry wasn't sure exactly where the fields were, but he knew that either he or his two best reporters would find out.

***********

Kal took a long puff of his cigar and relaxed against the back of the booth as one of the girls came on stage. He knew he had let the word fields slip; he also knew that either Perry White or one of the two women looking into his organization would figure it out. After all why go after the sheep, especially when they're so willing to walk right in to the wolf's den.


	4. Chapter 4

Lois allowed herself to fall back against her chair in the conference room as Chloe sighed. They had been going over the same information for three weeks now, and had searched every field within a 100-mile radius and not once had there been any hint of a criminal organization occupying the land.

" This doesn't make any sense. The way Perry described it this field place has to be within two hours of the Daily Planet."

Lois only nodded in ascent with her cousin. This had become even more personal for her, Intergang had threatened the closest thing to a father figure she had, not to mention stealing all of her computer files. When she got a hold of the guy responsible she was going to make him pay. " Okay, let's look at this another way."

Chloe rolled her eyes at her cousin, as if they hadn't done that already. " Lois we've looked at this every which way we can, what more can we do. They got almost all of our files, I mean we don't exactly have much to work with.

Jimmy Olsen picked this moment to walk in with the cups of coffee they had asked for, " Sorry I'm late, but the chief asked me to delay your coffee a little bit. He's afraid you're both going to become so addicted that you won't be able to drink anything else."

Both women scowled as they took their respective drinks and took a large gulp, it may have been a mental thing but at ten in the morning it was a great wake up, even if it wasn't their first cup.

" So what have ya'll found?" Jimmy took a seat in the conference room they had been using and looked over the maps and papers with interest.

Jimmy could hear the frustration in Lois's voice when she spoke " We've found about a thousand different places where the fields we're looking for aren't." Jimmy nodded his head, not quite sure how many fields were in the greater Metropolis area.

" How many fields can there really be to look through?" He received a glare from both women and Chloe answered his question.

" Within 2 hours of Metropolis by car there are about 150 separate fields with property on them. On top of that there are another 500 people listed under the last name field. Add that to the hundreds of sports fields and you've pretty much summed up three weeks of our lives."

Jimmy nodded his head debating on whether or not he should offer his opinion, in the end he decided he wanted to help, " Why exactly are you searching for a field?"

Lois sighed knowing he was only trying to help, " We're are searching for some field because the guy who threatened Perry said and I quote, 'Ask him if it's okay that I meet him at the fields in a couple of ours'."

" Well that doesn't make sense." Both Chloe and Lois looked at him confused not quite sure what he meant.

" What do you mean Jimmy?" It was Lois who asked what was on both women's minds.

" Well, the guy said fields. How can you someone in fields, shouldn't he have met someone in a field." When both women just stared at him Jimmy became uncomfortable, and he began to shift uncomfortably.

" You have to be freaking kidding me." Lois shot up out of her chair and made her way to her desk so that she could use her phone. She called a contact she only used in emergency situations. She hated having to use this source but knew that it was the only way.

He picked up on the fourth ring and Lois braced herself as he answered, " Agent Daniels, how may I help."

" Hey Daniels, I need a favor." Lois heard him sigh on the other end of the phone.

" This isn't fair Lois, you're taking advantage of me." Lois knew he was right; she had dated him awhile before breaking up with him after he said the three words she couldn't return.

" I…I know, but you know I wouldn't call if I could help it." There was a pause and Lois feared that he would hang up, she had cared about the man and hated hurting him, but she couldn't lie she wasn't in love with him.

He sighed once again before answering, " What do you need?"

" Did the FBI ever look into a business with the name fields in it?" She knew she was asking a lot, but if this bit of evidence wound up being what she needed it was worth it.

" You know I shouldn't be telling anyone that, especially a reporter." She could hear the little bit of anger in his voice.

" I know." She couldn't really think of anything else to say.

For third time in the conversation he sighed, " At the edge of suicide slums theirs a strip club called the Elysian Fields, after a lot of investigations the FBI determined that their was no criminal activity going on. Especially seeing as Trask sold it a year or two ago." Lois heard the news and knew without a doubt that this was the fields the thief was talking about.

" Thank you." Once again she couldn't think of anything else to say.

" I'll see you around Lo." With that he hung up and Lois knew that it was the last time they were ever going to speak, she had just used the last of his good will by asking him to break confidentiality and he was not happy about it..

Lois turned around to face Chloe and couldn't help but smirk despite the guilt that was still subtly hanging over her. " How do you feel about strip clubs."

Chloe's eyes went wide, and she knew that her life was about to take a turn she never expected.

*****************************************************************

[i] One week later…

[/i]

" If you two do this you do it right." Perry couldn't believe the conversation he was having. Lois Lane was the only one crazy enough to think she could pull this off and smart enough to actually have a chance at succeeding.

" Who do you think you're talking to chief, I already rented an apartment for me and Chloe rented under fake names, and once we leave here will make sure no one will recognize us." Lois meant it too, Chloe was going to dye her hair brunette and Lois was going to put blonde highlights in her hair. On top of that she was going to put in contacts that made her eyes appear to be blue instead of hazel. Chloe would be doing the same and they would pretend to be sisters that had simply decided to work at the club together.

" So neither of you has a problem posing as…" Perry let his sentence trail off as both Chloe and Lois shot each other looks.

" Well we're going to try and avoid it chief but if we have to…we have to." Chloe spoke, she wasn't sure how she had been talked into doing this, but she would have been willing to bet money that it had to do with anyone messing with her hard drive.

Lois shrugged her shoulders, admittedly she was not thrilled that they had to go undercover at a strip club, but it wasn't as if it was the first time. She quickly shoved the memory out of her head, memories like that one always led to a dark place.

" Well then ladies, as of now I don't want to see you around. If anyone asks you are on vacation with your father." He nodded towards Lois.

Lois and Chloe both nodded, they had told the general that they were laying low for a while because of Intergang and he was all to willing to agree to let the girls use him as an alibi.

They were making their way out the door but Perry called out before they left. " Promise me you'll check in every few days."

Lois was touched by the worry in his eyes but knew they both had to go anyway. " Don't worry Chief, we always do."

**************************************************

Kal was going over the numbers in his private office at the Elysian Fields. He had remodeled it to be a temporary home while his penthouse sweet was being finished in downtown Metropolis.

Intergang was up in profits in the international market, but it had lost at least half of its profits in the Metropolis area. With all the arrests there were not only less people to collect dues, but also a much greater number of people willing to pay. They believed Intergang to be weak and refused to pay for various reasons. The worst had been the constant investigations, cops were searching anything connected to Intergang so Kal had instructed all crime to stop until he gave the go ahead. Tonight was the night to do so.

He made a call to one of his best men, " Marco, assemble as many skilled teams as you can in two hours and come meet me in the basement of the club."

Two hours late Kal was standing in the same room he had dealt with Sykes in, only this time he was surrounded by some of the most skilled men in Metropolis. As he looked around he noticed that there wasn't any trace of blood in the place. His clean up crew had done a very good job.

As he looked around he noticed that there were enough people here 20 high-end teams. They didn't come cheap, but always made more than what they cost, Marco had done a good job, it wasn't easy to get criminals to drop whatever they were doing at a moments notice, of course Kal had never been turned down before.

" I'd like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, I know that none of you were exactly thrilled with my decision to halt business for the past since the Trask incident. Tonight I'm here to tell you that its time to show the city that we're still in charge." There was a cheer from the crowd and Kal smirked.

He gestured to the table at the center of the room, " On that table there are 21 assignments, all high profile and highly profitable. Now as many of you have noticed there are only twenty teams here. A couple of you will be losing a team member and that person will be working on a special assignment with me."

There was a murmur in the crowd before a woman spoke up, " Who gets to work with you?" Kal smirked at her question, when he looked around the room he could tell that every one of the criminals wanted the coveted spots.

" It's completely random, in a few of the folders it has instructions that will tell you who comes with me. Before you leave the room each of your teams will grab a folder, in it you will find what your assignments are and when to do them. You follow the instructions word for word. If it's not in there, I leave it to your discretion."

He stayed as each team grabbed a folder and quietly made their way outside the room, Kal knew that if he didn't monitor the activity each team would have fought for the folder that allowed them to send a member of the team that worked with him. When everyone was gone Marco stayed behind, he seemed to struggle for a moment before working up the courage to ask the question.

" Are you sure this is a good idea boss?" Kal knew why Marco was worried, after all no one had ever hit the city as hard as he was about to.

Kal only smirked knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that his plan would work, after all it wasn't often he handled the hardest tasks himself. In a mere two weeks Metropolis and the world would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was Intergang's city.

******************************************************************

" Are you ready?" Lois knocked on the door of her cousin's new bedroom. She looked around and shook her head. It was a huge step down for the both of them and the water wasn't exactly what Lois would call drinkable, but it was necessary if they were going to pull off their fake back-story.

Chloe swung the door open and glared at Lois, " You know considering we're about to go pretend to be strippers I didn't think you would be in a hurry."

Lois rolled her eyes; " It's not that I'm in a hurry to do this it's just that if we're going to get a good look at the club, we need to get there before people start showing up." They had both figured out that the club opened at five in the afternoon and that it would be the best time to get a look at the club while the least amount of people possible would be there.

" I don't know how I let you talk me into this Lo." Chloe shook her head as they silently made their way outside of the apartment and down the street. They were both wearing tight jeans and halter tops and Chloe had to admit that after half a decade of wearing mostly business suits she felt a little bit uncomfortable.

" I don't think I had to talk you into anything, I mean this club is our only lead and the only way their going to let us in is if we work there. I don't know about you but I think we're more believable applying to be a stripper than a bouncer." Chloe huffed, she wasn't thrilled about this but the two who hated this plan the most were Bruce and Oliver.

Each had insisted that because of who they were they could easily have been granted access to the club and maybe even been approached to join the organization, but Lois had shot that idea down from the start. Everyone knew that the two dated the Daily Planet's star reporters, even though most people didn't know what Lois or Chloe looked like, at least two thirds of people out there could recognize at least one of them.

They came to halt at the entrance of the club and both women had to admit they were impressed. There were no neon signs or flyers of half naked women on the outside. In fact it was built In an Ancient Greek style that looked almost royal. Engraved above the entrance were the words Elysian Fields, and if she wasn't mistaken they were engraved in gold. Lois noted that even with its proximity to Suicide Slums nothing was out of order, she figured if she were part of the underworld she wouldn't mess with an Intergang property either.

" Well sis its now or never." Lois took the first step and on the way up Chloe remained approximately half a step behind becoming the alias that they had set up. When she opened the door neither woman was quite sure what to expect, they were however surprised to see how luxurious it was.

In contrast to the exterior the inside was completely modern, every booth and chair was lined with comfortable leather. Beyond that the bar looked like it was stocked with every alcoholic beverage known to man. Randomly throughout the club their were poles that Lois knew were so that the high paying clientele would get a better look at the dancers than if they were on a stage far away.

Both women quickly noticed that although there were two doors on the far side of the club. Lois was willing to bet that neither was an exit. " This place is unbelievable."

Chloe nodded at her cousin but before she could respond a man's voice came out from across the room. " You two here for the audition?"

They both jumped slightly at the voice and turned to see a large man in black jeans and a black t-shirt. Chloe was the one to respond, " What else?"

He nodded his head and looked them both up and down clearly deciding for himself if they should be allowed to work here. " Well you two are a little to skinny for my taste but you," The man looked at Lois, " Are definitely the boss's type."

Normally the word boss would have made Lois and Chloe jump for joy, but they both knew that their was no way in hell that the leader of Intergang would be managing a club like this personally. This guy he called the boss was probably higher on the totem pole than most but both women thought he was still at least a few level's down of the top level.

Lois was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the man or Chloe start to walk towards the right back door. " You coming babe."

Making sure not to respond to the nick name Lois put on a fake excited look and made her way towards the back of the room where she was apparently about to meet the only lead she had on her new case, she didn't know who they were going to see but she did know that if all went according to plan she was well on her way to finding the leader of Intergang.

Who knew maybe she would get lucky and whoever this guy was would be closer to the top than she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Lois and Chloe were led through the doorway in the back and were brought into a hallway. As they passed through it, clearly on the way to the door at the end of the hall both women took note of the row of doors they passed on the way. Odds were that at least a few of them were changing rooms for the waitresses and dancers, but both reporters knew one was probably off limits to all but a select few.

They came to the end of the hallway and the man who had been leading them knocked on the door three times before opening the door and walking in. The office was just as luxurious as the rest of the club but Lois could instantly tell that there was something different about it. It was spacious and everything was either silver or black and there was a fireplace on the right side of the room. At the back of the room was yet another door and there were two men in the room, one was sitting with his back to them and the other was standing behind the desk.

When the two women had discussed going undercover they had expected the boss to be a creepy old man, but when they looked across the desk they didn't see anything creepy about the him. Lois knew he had to be at least six foot four and was wearing a suit that could rival Bruce or Ollie's for upscale, although his jacket was hanging on the back of his chair. It didn't escape either woman that his thin dress shirt showed off his rock hard body. He had jet-black hair and sported a goatee and mustache, normally Lois wouldn't have liked the facial hair but she had to admit that it looked good on him.

He looked up and neither woman noticed the look of surprise that passed across his features before it turned into a smirk. " Marco will you excuse me, I have club business to take care of."

The man who had his back turned around stood up and smirked as he exited without saying a word. The boss turned from Lois and Chloe to the man who had brought them in. " So I take it these two passed your lofty standards huh Drake."

Drake looked from the girls to Kal before smiling a little bit, " What can I say boss, I knew you'd like the tall one."

Kal let his eyes wander over Lois's form for a moment before grinning and allowing himself to fall into his chair and kick his feet up onto his desk. " Well you know the rules." Drake shook his head before exiting the room, leaving Kal, Chloe, and Lois alone in the office.

" So you girls are here for the dancing job?" Neither woman knew why but he seemed to have a hint of amusement in his voice that they couldn't explain. It didn't take them long to fall into their aliases.

" Well we are women in a strip club." Lois crossed her arms over chest and stared down the man she knew to be the boss.

He looked to Chloe who only nodded in ascent, " Well okay then." Kal wore a devilish smile as he stood up and made his was around the desk; Lois had to admit that it was both sexy and unsettling all at the same time. She shook herself out of her thoughts when instead of coming to them he simply leaned against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest.

Chloe was feeling uneasy; something about being in the belly of the beast just didn't sit right with her. Something about him was comforting even in a place that made her as uneasy as she was. It made it almost impossible to think straight when you were dressed in clothes that made you feel uncomfortable, in a building that made you uncomfortable to while conversing with a man she intellectually knew was probably one of the most dangerous in Metropolis and yet still wanting to be there for reasons she couldn't explain.

" Do you have any experience?" Lois was surprised by the question, the last time she had been in this situation the guy had pretty much just told her to strip.

" No, me and my sister both just moved to Metropolis and needed jobs." He nodded his head and turned to Chloe.

" And stripping was the first thing that came to mind." Both women knew that the boss wasn't as willing to hire them as Drake had made it seem.

Chloe merely shrugged her shoulders as she fell into the part, " Well we're close to the place, don't have job experience anywhere else, and are attractive. It just seemed to make sense." She relaxed when he nodded his head slowly.

" Well see here's the problem, neither of you have any experience and I only have one dancing job left. The odds are that another girl will come into the club later and I'll be able to hire her.

Lois saw something in his eye that told her that he would be willing to hire them, but she would have to convince him. She rolled her eyes inwardly knowing that if Bruce were here he wouldn't exactly be pleased with what she was about to do. " You could, but then you wouldn't get to see me everyday."

She sauntered up to him in a seductive way and looked up at him while fingering a button on his shirt. " But if you don't hire us," She stressed the last word, " Then I won't get to see you every day."

Kal smiled knowing it was a ploy, but that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying it. " Well if I hire you there are a few things we'd have to go over." Lois put on a smile happy that her little ploy had worked.

" Like what?" It was Chloe who asked the question as Lois stepped back, both were smiling, while the boss would think it was because they were getting the job. Chloe knew they were smiling at the fact that they had just successfully made the first step to cracking the behemoth that was Intergang.

" Like the fact that this club is a bit different than most other clubs." Lois quirked an eyebrow, this was unexpected.

" Okay shoot." The boss seemed amused by Lois, normally she would have tried to wipe the smirk off his face, but in this instance she figured the more the boss was interested in her the more likely she was to learn something valuable.

" The first is that no matter what you learn, see, hear, or anything of the sort in this club it is confidential. What happens here stays here, no exceptions." Lois nodded her head not really surprised by the request. " The second, is that this is a look but don't touch club, but don't freak out on the customers when they smack your ass. The customers here aren't exactly the most gentlemanly and it's going to happen all you do is tell me or security and we'll handle it." Both Lois and Chloe inwardly cringed but only nodded on the outside. They weren't exactly thrilled about having to deal with that, but it wasn't totally unexpected.

" Anything else?" Both women wanted to get information out of the boss but now wasn't the time. If they didn't act like they were just happy to be hired he might get suspicious.

" Yea, we only have one dancer position open so you'll have to be a waitress." He looked at Chloe when he said it.

This was an unexpected twist, but one Chloe wasn't exactly disappointed to have to deal with. " That's fine."

Kal nodded and went back behind his desk before pulling to slips of paper and scribbling on them before handing one to each of the girls. " Give yours to the girl named Hera, and give yours to the head waitress."

Both were happy about what had transpired but Lois couldn't leave it at that curiosity getting the better of her. " That's it, you higher us on the spot even though we don't have experience, no references. Hell you don't even know our names."

Kal fell into his seat and laughed slightly as he shook his head. " Look, I'm not going to pretend this isn't a place where people give women money to watch them get naked. I didn't ask your names, because frankly it doesn't matter both of you are going to have a fake name and a fake real name you use when clients ask what your real name is. I don't really care about your experience because clients don't really come here to watch you be good dancers. They come here because the women are actually attractive unlike a lot of clubs. I don't need references because you already said you don't have experience, which means no previous employers to ask for them. All I need to know is that you're both sexy and confidant I know you're both sexy because I have eyes, and I know you're both confidant because I've spent more than a couple of minutes with you both and because you were both even willing to be strippers…Does that answer all of your questions."

Lois wasn't quite sure how to respond, she hadn't actually expected him to answer in such detail. Somehow the confidence the boss had just spoken about roared up. " No, but we can get to those later." She winked at him as she and Chloe left his office, just when they made it to the door Chloe turned back. " Wait a minute, what's your name."

The boss leaned back in his chair and paused seeming to stair them over, Neither woman thought it was a question that really required much thought. " You can call me Kal." They nodded and exited his office; on the way back down the hallway his name tickled at the back of Chloe's mind but for some reason she couldn't quite place it.

***********************************************

Drake walked back into the office and smirked at his boss, " So those are the new girls."

Kal smiled and nodded once again putting his feet up on his desk and resting his hands on his chest. " Yes they are." He paused for a moment before becoming serious, " And they're both off limits, make sure that everybody knows it."

Drake quirked an eyebrow, " Both girls, that's not really your style." Kal gave him a look he knew to mean that it was time to leave and spread the word. He simply waved awkwardly as he stepped out of the office.

Kal x-rayed the door to watch as the two women he had just hired went about their training he smirked as Lois rolled her eyes at finding out which goddess she would be.

O he knew who they were, how could he forget his former best friend Chloe Sullivan and her annoying cousin Lois Lane. Of course he was currently wondering how he had forgotten how drop dead gorgeous she was.

Admittedly this was an unexpected twist of events, he had been expecting both women to show up snooping, not to try and go undercover as dancers. He put his hands together in front of his face as he sat up and rested his elbows on the desk.

The obvious solution was to either take them somewhere where they could no longer cause problems or kill them. But neither option appealed to him, they might not hold the same standing in his life as they used to but that didn't mean he wanted to kill off women that had each on occasion saved his life.

In the end he decided not to worry about them until later, after all he had Intergang plans to attend to. Neither Lois or Chloe would find anything of importance here, in anticipation of their snooping he had gotten rid of all incriminating evidence, besides the necessary things that he kept in the room behind his private office of course; and he had replaced all of the girls that knew anything about Intergang. The biggest concern he had was that they would realize that beneath the beard was their friend from so long ago.

He wasn't surprised they hadn't realized who he was, after all why would Clark Kent be in a Metropolis strip club that they were only investigating because of a supposed link to Intergang, even if they believed him to be alive they would have a hard time believing that he was their old friend. But Clark Kent had been dead for over 6 years, he was just a memory in the part of their past they didn't like to think about.. No, unless he flat out told them who he was they would have no reason to suspect that Kal was none other than the long forgotten farm boy from Smallville.


	6. Chapter 6

Lois huffed as she took her last break of the night, Chloe walked over smiled sympathetically. " Don't tell me you're frustrated after only being on the job for a week."

Lois glared slightly as she fell into a seat in the back and took a look at herself in the mirror. " That's easy for you to say, you get to wear a normal toga I on the other hand am not so lucky, and neither of us has had a real conversation with Kal since the interview."

Chloe knew she made a good point, Lois had been assigned the goddess Aphrodite which meant she wore the skimpiest outfit and was the only girl in red, she also had a halo of tiny golden apples in her hair. It wasn't exactly hard to spot her in the club. The frustrating part was that all of the business seemed to be legit and neither had gotten any face time with Kal.

" So, it's not like there's anything we can do about it." Chloe was serious, she had tried to be the waitress that served the drinks to the boss but that job was given solely to the most head waitress, as he was the biggest tipper in the club. The strangest part about him was that although there was a pole right in front of his booth none of the girls were ever called over to dance on it.

Lois tapped her foot in frustration, on the one hand it had only been a week but on the other hand it had been a whole week with absolutely no progress. " We'll see about that." She stood up and walked quickly toward the entrance to the main part of the club and Chloe knew that this was going to be interested.

Chloe stood at the entrance to the back room as she watched her cousin make her way over to the bar and address the bar tender. " Hey Tony, I need two jack and coke's, and put them on a tray."

Tony quirked an eyebrow as he began to pour the drinks, " Well Aphrodite who's the second for?"

She picked up the tray and turned around before looking back and responding, " You'll know soon enough." She smiled an inwardly rolled her eyes not enjoying playing the part of the flirty stripper.

She sauntered up to the V.I.P section and winked at the bouncer, she was actually a little surprised that he let her through; she guessed it was a good thing that she had been chatting him up since she had started a week ago.

She made her way to the boss's table and put on her most confidant smirk as she sat the tray down on the table. She took in the boss's appearance he was still wearing an all black suit, but this time his head was lying on the back of the book with his arms resting behind his head. " You know, most of the girls don't work up the nerve to walk back here for at least a month or two, it's interesting that it only took you a week."

Her eyes widened a moment not quite sure how he had known it was her. " Well, what can I say? I thought I made it clear when we first met that I wanted to spend time with you."

She knew she had caught his attention when he smirked, although he had yet to open his eyes. " So you want to spend time with little old me?"

She laughed a little, not quite sure if it was real or part of the act. " That is what I just said."

He finally opened his eyes and sat up and looked her in the eye, she had to admit she was impressed most guys at the club only held her gaze for a moment before scanning her body.

" Well what do you want to do?" Her eyes widened, a little taken aback by the question. She hadn't exactly expected for him to take her up on her offer so quickly.

" Ummm, well I guess that would be up to you." When he quirked an eyebrow she knew he had noticed the slip in her confidence.

She shifted slightly as instead of answering he simply stared her down. She shifted slightly as his eyes pierced her, she could handle the rich drunks staring at her body but she wasn't used to a man staring her down so intently. In the end she had to break the contact, not exactly thrilled that she had caved.

When she looked away he slid out of the booth and straightened his jacket as he spoke. " I have to attend a formal function in an hour, if you want you can come along." He stopped and looked at her awaiting an answer.

Lois wasn't quite sure what to say, she didn't expect anything like this. In fact she had just been hoping to share a drink with the man before he likely bailed on her. She realized quickly she needed to jump on this opportunity and fell back into the part. " Sure, I guess I can be your eye candy."

He smirked and nodded as he walked towards his office, he turned back with an amused smirk on his face, " Well I guess I need to know your name now."

Lois smiled slightly glad she had some semblance of the upper hand for once, " It's Laney."

" Well Laney, I'll meet you out front in 45 minutes."

*********************************************************************

Kal made his way towards the front of the Elysian Fields wearing the same suit and a full length overcoat. As he made it outside he saw Lois shivering in the dress he had given for her to wear. " You know, I expected you to wear a coat over that."

She glared at him slightly, how was she supposed to know that, it was fall and it hadn't really been that cold until a couple of days ago. " Well thanks for the info." She glared harder at him when all he did was smile in laugh, but to her surprise he took off his full-length coat and wrapped it around her shoulders and she instantly felt warmer.

" Thanks." He nodded but both were cut off from saying anything as a Maybach pulled up. She was surprised to see it, as she didn't think that the club made enough money for him to afford a five hundred thousand dollar car. Of course the club made plenty of money, but most of that should have gone towards the boss, this was interesting.

She was once again surprised when Kal opened the door for her, before walking to the other side of the car and sitting on his side. " So you're not going to drive us yourself?"

Kal looked at her for a moment not surprised by the question, after all Lois was a reporter curiosity was in her nature. " Well that would take away from the time that you're so eager to spend with me." He laughed at the eye roll he knew she hadn't meant to show.

Lois had also caught her mistake but played it off by pretending she had something in her eye. Kal had to suppress a laugh. At first he hadn't quite known what he wanted to do about the feisty brunette, but all that had changed when he had seen her in her Aphrodite outfit. She had walked out of the dressing room and Kal wouldn't have taken her eyes off of her if there hadn't been a problem that required his personal attention. In fact his plans had been set back at least a month, but he would deal with that later tonight. He hadn't even bothered to worry about Chloe knowing that there was nothing for either of the women to find without breaking into his private back room. Even then they wouldn't have an easy task ahead of them. But right now he was only interested in showing 'Laney,' a side of Kal she never could have expected. Sure he would be taking on more risk but that would reward would be worth it.

The ride was quiet as Kal wanted to see how long she could take the silence, and Lois could not think of a topic that would seem innocent yet help her investigation. Tonight was about getting his attention and keeping it, her only challenge their was drawing it in a way that didn't make him suspicious of her motives.

The privacy wall came down and a man she hadn't seen before spoke up, " We're here boss."

" Thanks Wheels." The driver nodded before putting the privacy wall back up as Kal stepped out of the car and made his way around to open the door for her. He gave her his hand and was pleasantly surprised when she allowed him to help her up. As the car drove off she looked up at him with a curious gaze, " You call your driver wheels."

Kal smiled as they began to walk towards the entrance of their destination, " I like a driver who knows how to handle what's under the hood of the car and no one knows more about cars than him, that's how he got the nickname." She nodded her head, knowing something wasn't quite right about this man Kal. He was the boss at a club she was sure was connected to Intergang but still seemed as relaxed as the average guy, which did not exactly scream of someone dealing with dangerous criminals constantly.

" Well I guess that makes sense…So, where exactly are we." Kal nodded his head upward and Lois's eyes widened in surprise.

" A show, that's your formal event." Kal smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

" What can I say, I'm a sucker for the classics, and Frankenstein is a classic." Lois shook her head, not quite sure how to respond.

He extended his arm and Lois instinctually wound her arm through his. They made their way into the playhouse that Lois realized was the brand new performing arts center of Metropolis. Supposedly it was the most advanced show hall in the world, it could house ten different shows and was projected to become real competition for Broadway. " I thought this place didn't open for another month."

Kal nodded his head, " This is what they call a soft open, it's kind of like a test run."

She quirked an eyebrow at him as they made it to the escalator, " So how did you get tickets for an event like this." It didn't take long for her to realize the elite of Metropolis surrounded her.

" I know a guy who knows a guy." She shook her head; it was the classic vague answer.

" Thanks for the info." They had now made it to the end of the escalator and she followed a step behind him as they walked through the door that led them to the private boxes. She tried hard to mask the surprise on her face as they walked into the owner's box, but she wasn't very successful.

" You know a guy who knows the owner of the Performing Arts Center of Metropolis." He laughed.

" No, I know a guy who works for the corporation that owns a controlling share in the Performing Arts Center of Metropolis." She nodded her head; it did make sense, and helped solidify her theory that this guy Kal was towards the top of the chain in Intergang. Although his connections were loose enough that she knew she wouldn't be able to prove anything.

They sat down in chairs that Lois had to admit were more comfortable than any movie theatre she had ever been in. She looked around and marveled at the setting, there were ten seats and behind them there was a sitting area with large leather seats and to the side a fully stocked bar complete with bartender. " Are we the only one's here or are other people in the corporation going to be occupying the rest of theses seats."

Kal laughed slightly, " Maybe on opening night, but this is a soft open which means no press to show the world how sophisticated they are."

Lois looked at Kal impressed, being a journalist she knew all to well that the high society and business tried to use the press to boost their public image in hundreds of different ways. " So then why are you here?"

Kal smirked, as he turned to face her. " I told you I'm a fan of Frankenstein, but you know it seems you've been asking most of the questions tonight. What's your story?"

Lois put on a fake pleased smirk and began the story she had crafted so carefully. " My sister and I grew up in Gotham. Neither of us had the grades to make into College and wound up getting minimum wage jobs." She looked down and tried to look slightly embarrassed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She knew that she had to be confidant, and yet a little overwhelmed at the same time. " We fell on some hard times and decided to start new in Metropolis. We wanted to make a little more money than we had been and found your club."

Kal nodded his head and Lois felt a little bit of excitement at the fact that he had seemingly bought the story. Kal was about to respond when the lights dimmed and the curtains drew open. Lois was a little bit shocked when she felt his hand on her knee and then him whispering in her ear. " We'll talk after the show."

She felt an unexpected shiver go down her spine but wasn't sure whether or not it was a good one or bad one. Either way the implication scared her a little bit, she was getting lost in her thoughts but was brought back to reality by the beginning of the show.

Lois had to admit that although she wasn't a fan of theatre, it was a good show. She was also surprised at how quickly it seemed to fly by even though it was three hours long. She had to admit that being able to drink during the show made it much more enjoyable. She shied away from the alcohol as she didn't want to make any mistakes, but was surprised to see Kal down multiple glasses of scotch, if she were lucky that would lead to loose lips later tonight.

They exited the theatre and began to walk towards the Maybach but Kal stopped her. " Do you mind if we walk for a little while?"

" Not at all." It was more perfect than Lois could have hoped for, ideally this would give her a chance to grill him a little bit.

" So what did you think of the show." Kal inquired and Lois noticed genuine curiosity in his eyes.

" I though the acting was great, but I never really like Frankenstein." Lois noticed Kal nod his head, " What about you?"

" I always liked Frankenstein, there was something intriguing about a man conquering death." Kal smirked as he spoke.

Lois cocked her head to the side. " Maybe but you saw what happened the monster was…well a monster, and whoever he was before was turned into something awful."

Kal once again nodded his head, " True, but you could argue that the two were completely different people. That the monster wasn't even human, and only did what he thought needed to be done."

Lois rolled her eyes, " No offense, but that's a really cynical way to look at it."

She was surprised when Kal laughed, " True, but I do enjoy playing the Devil's Advocate."

Lois actually laughed at that one, " I'll bet you do." She knew she had gotten his attention with that last line when Kal quirked his eyebrow in amusement. She was about to ask a question that might help her but was interrupted when Kal's phone rang.

" Hello." Lois watched as Kal only nodded his head and kept his responses to one or two words. At the end of the conversation he sighed before hanging up.

" I'm sorry about this but something just came up and I have to go. Do you mind if wheels drives you back to the club." She let her face fall slightly but nodded her head. Fighting would only imply something she didn't want to.

He made a phone call instructing the driver as to where they were. They waited in awkward silence for the car as Lois knew that any question she asked wouldn't be able to be answered before the car arrived. Sure enough not two minutes later it pulled up.

Kal opened the door for her and she stepped in, the window was rolled down and he leaned on it as he spoke. " I'm sorry to cut the night short, but duty calls."

She gave him an understanding smile despite the frustration of not being able to ask any questions of usefulness. " It's no big deal, besides it won't be too long before I see you next." He smiled and Lois was stunned when he kissed her on the cheek before stepping back and banging on the hood softly which caused the driver to move.

Lois was to stunned to do anything, the kiss had only been on the cheek but it was still unexpected. As she relived the night she realized three things. One she had basically gone on a date with Kal. Two, she had gotten hours of face time and hadn't discovered anything other than that Kal was a deeper guy than she realized. And Three, that she wasn't sure whether she was disappointed in the lack of acquired information or the fact that the night was cut short. That above all else truly freaked her out.

******************************************

Kal watched as Lois drove off and was just as surprised as she was by his own actions. He shook his head out of his thoughts and allowed his anger to flood his head as he made his way to a dark alley before taking off and flying to Gotham as quickly as he could.

He landed in front of the gate to an abandoned warehouse before stepping through it and heading towards the building. He simply nodded to the two men standing guard before entering the building and swiftly making his way up the stairs and towards the small set of offices on the second floor.

When he walked in, he saw a group of men he hadn't seen in a long time standing around a man who was tied in a straight jacket and chains and was wearing a bag over his head while lying on the floor.

He nodded his head backwards towards the door and the men surrounding the man tied to the floor started to exit single file. Kal stopped the last man in the line and took a metal briefcase from him before walking to the side of the room and placing it on a desk.

He removed his coat as he began to speak. " You know, I've left you alone for a long time."

He unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeves, " After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Kal un-tucked his shirt and took of his watch setting in down in the pile of clothes on the table. " But you just had to go and mess with my business, I'm assuming you know that the stunt you pulled a couple of weeks ago stalled some very important plans of mine."

Kal turned to the center of the room and pulled the bag off of the man's head and stared right into the cold eyes of the joker. " You know you're not an easy man to get a hold of Joker."

Kal ripped the duct tape off his mouth impressed that the joker didn't even flinch; he only spoke in a menacing tone. " Well, well, well the head cheese finally shows his face."

Kal smirked, " I was never hiding", he leaned in a little bit closer to the joker, " You just weren't important enough for me to care about."

The joker scowled and narrowed his eyes, " Watch who you're talking to boy, I've been the head honcho in this town since before you were in diapers."

Kal nodded his head before breaking the chains and unlatching the straight jacket. Kal could see the look of surprise on the joker's face as he slowly but weekly stood. " And I thought the bats was stupid, apparently you take the cake." He laughed his maniacal laugh.

Kal ignored his comment as her replied, " I hear you're a fan of jokes, want to hear one?"

" Well I am nothing if not a comedian." The joker smiled evilly clearly getting ready for revenge.

Clark began to take steps back towards the joker as he spoke, " What's black and white and red all over?"

The joker laughed once again, " That's the best you have, all your bluster and you use the oldest riddle in the book. Well I hope you enjoyed your last words."

They were now standing face to face and Kal smirked, " Actually the answers probably not what you think, but I guess you never really were that funny."

Kal saw the look of pure hatred on the joker's face as he threw a punch. Kal caught the arm and flipped him over and slammed him against the ground. Kal kicked the joker in the stomach before speaking again. " From now on you don't get involved in my business."

He kicked him in the gut again, " When you raided that factory you and you're buffoons destroyed a very important piece of technology and killed two of my men accidentally."

This time Kal kicked the joker in the face but made sure to keep it soft enough for him to remain conscious. Although his nose was clearly broken and a handful of teeth had been knocked out.

He walked over to the desk quickly as he heard the joker groan and role over clearly trying to get up. He opened the brief case up and pulled out two large vials of liquid that glowed bright orange and bright yellow. He walked back over to the joker and kicked his hand out of the way as he made a weak grab for his leg.

He pushed the Joker's beaten body over and then placed his foot onto the jokers throat and applying just enough pressure to have the man wheezing. " The only reason you're not dead right now is because you are very good distraction for certain leather clad weekend warriors. I want that to continue. When you're strong enough you're going to meet an associate of mine at Intergang's headquarters in Gotham, I have a feeling you know where it is, and so there's no confusion, you work for me now."

Even in his beaten state the joker managed to look away in defiance. " If you don't I will hand these to formula's over to the government. This yellow one is a joker venom cure and believe me its strong enough that it might even turn you back." The joker turned his head over and Kal could see the fear there. " This Orange one is a joker venom vaccine, through various charitable and nonprofit organizations it will be made freely available to all those who wish to use it." Kal could already see the joker caving, he knew all about the joker and the last thing the man would want would be normal, or worse to take away the look of creepy laughter that froze on the face of those effected by the venom.

Kal took the pressure off of his throat and began to leave, as he looked back he took in the bruised and bloodied form of the joker. " By the way, the answer to the joke was you." With that Kal walked out of the warehouse with his men in tow.

He knew that the joker wouldn't try anything, not with the threat of the vaccine. He was now just another resource of Kal's ever growing empire.

Tbc…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Back Home

Lois was fairly sure she had never been so happy to see the door of an apartment before. She had to admit she was exhausted, after a day in the club followed by the night out with Kal she was ready for some sleep. Her mind had been racing since Kal had sent her home and she still wasn't sure what the hell had happened tonight.

When she opened the door her mind quickly blanked as she was met with two unhappy faces. Not quite sure what was going on she decided to get things moving. " Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you do realize that if someone saw you here our cover would be blown."

Seeing Chloe in the room wasn't a surprise, but she had specifically told Bruce that he couldn't be seen at her place and that when they met it would have to be under the radar. Apparently Bruce didn't care at the moment as he stood up and walked over to her as Chloe picked up her phone, Lois didn't have to wonder as to who she was calling.

" Do you have any idea how scared we were?" Bruce was now towering over her and Lois didn't really appreciate it.

" What did you have to be scared about, I was only gone for a few hours." Lois stared him in the eye, not intimidated in the least.

Bruce sighed and turned around as he spoke making his way back towards Chloe. " Five hours Lois, and there's plenty to be scared about. After all you're going under cover to bust an organization that has tried to kill you on more than one occasion."

Lois rolled her eyes, " Bruce, I went to a show okay. Nothing eventful happened and shockingly I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

He turned around and shook his head, " That's not the point and you know it. Do you have any idea how worried we were about you, You could have at least told Chloe how long you were going to be gone."

Lois suddenly realized that in her rush she had forgotten to update Chloe on her progress; that explained why Bruce was currently in 'Lanies' living room. She turned to Chloe as she spoke, " I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving but I was in a hurry and you know how I get when I think I'm on to something."

Chloe knew Lois was telling the truth, after all both women had gotten a little carried away on more than one occasion and she wasn't the type to hold a grudge. Chloe was about to respond but Bruce cut her off. " That's the best you've got. Do you have any idea what it's like to have to wonder when or even if someone you care about is coming back."

That line pushed Lois over the edge, she knew she had messed up tonight but he had no right to complain. " Actually I do, or do you forget that I'm in a relationship with a man who operates nocturnally."

Bruce froze for a second before responding slowly. " You know that's not fair, that's a completely different situation."

" Why because normally I'm the one who has to sit home and worry." They both stared each other down for a long while before Bruce plopped down into his chair and put his head in his hands rather unlike his usual self.

" I'm can't handle this Lois, I've lost to much to criminals if I lost you too I just don't know what I would do." Chloe silently made her way out of the room as Lois walked in front of Bruce and knelt down forcing him to look at her by placing a hand on his cheek.

" You're not going to loose me, I promise." She kissed him lightly before it became slightly more heated. They were broken out of their moment by a knock at the door.

Lois stood up and went to answer it and wasn't the least bit surprised to find Oliver waiting on the other end. He stepped inside quickly as he spoke, " I'm glad you're back you had us really worried."

They hugged as he stepped inside and greeted Chloe. As they all made their way back to the table Chloe decide to get the conversation rolling. " So Lois what did you find out tonight."

Lois pause not really sure how to answer the question, in the end the truth seemed like the way to go, or at least most of the truth. " To be honest not much, we went to a show where we didn't really talk much. After ward we started walking and I thought I was going to learn something interesting but he got called away and the driver took brought me back."

" That's it, you didn't find out anything?" It was Ollie who asked the question although Bruce looked on intrigues.

Lois rolled her eyes, " I found out he's a fan of Frankenstein and has a driver named wheels." 'and that even that he's got a side to him that she never expected' she kept the last part to herself.

" Do you think it could have been an act?" The question came from Bruce, and Lois actually took the time to think about it this time.

"Maybe, but why would he put on an act for me. He just thinks I'm a stripper." They all nodded in unison as a semi awkward moment settled over the group.

Bruce looked at his watch knowing that the longer he and Ollie stayed the more danger they were putting the girls in. He now knew Lois was safe and also knew that he had to leave. Ollie seemed to sense what Bruce was thinking as they stood simultaneously.

" We'll see you as soon as we can." The couples bid farewell to each other as Ollie and Bruce left as quickly as they could.

As the door shut Lois took a deep breath ready to go to sleep, apparently Chloe had other ideas. " You know you should have called."

Lois rolled her eyes, " I said I was sorry Chlo, I made a mistake."

Chloe nodded her head and Lois realized this was about something else. " I know, but something occurred to me, At any point you could have steeped out of the show to tell me where you were. Kal wouldn't find calling your sister suspicious. Why didn't you."

Lois froze; the truth was that she didn't really even know the answer. It suddenly occurred to her that there wasn't a reason she shouldn't have called Chloe. As she recalled the night's events she came to the only conclusion she could logically come to. She had been so caught up in the evening she hadn't really thought about anything else. " I…I don't know."

Chloe gave her a puzzled look before shrugging her shoulders and heading back towards her room. When she got to her door she turned around. " Don't worry me like that again okay cuz. I don't want to have to call in the cavalry again."

************************************************

Both Batman and the Green Arrow stood atop the Dailey Planet looking over the city below.

" We have to do something." Ollie stated it as a fact not an opinion.

" I know, but what?" There was a long silence as both men pondered the answer to the most important question on their minds.

" We could take down Intergang ourselves." Ollie had voiced the obvious solution but Bruce knew it was unrealistic at the moment.

" Where would we start, if we go investigate Intergang in either Gotham or Star City then we have to leave the girls behind."

Olliee finished his thought for him, " Or we can stay and do nothing because the only lead we have is the club the girls are undercover at."

Bruce only nodded his head slightly. Thinking of every scenario he could in his mind. The past week had been hared on both men. It wasn't easy now that the most important people in their lives are constantly risking their lives.

" I don't know how long I can take this Bruce, Every time I see her I want to hold her and never let go."

Bruce nodded in ascent. He couldn't honestly say he loved Lois like Ollie loved Chloe but he did love her. They hadn't said the words to each other, and he wasn't foolish enough to think that if they did she would truly mean them. Yes he knew Lois loved him, but he could also tell that there was something missing for her, and that something was himself. She needed him to give his whole self to her and that was something he was incapable of doing. The darkness inside was something he shared with no one and that was how it would always be. All he could do was hold on tight and prayed she never let go.

" We do the only thing we can Ollie, we wait for one of the lower Intergang members to make a mistake and follow him to the top. We keep going until we hit the top." Ollie nodded his head as both men fell into a silence knowing that neither would rest until Lois and Chloe were safe.

TBC…

I know it's short but I felt like this was where I needed to end this update. I decided that I needed to talk about what was going on back in the "real world" of Lois's life and this is what I got. I hope you liked it, and would like to once again like to thank you all for your reviews and support. I will try to get the next update up quickly, as I'm just as excited for the next one as I think you'll be.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Aragawa

Kal sat at the bar watching the flat screen T.V. he had recently had installed. It was a special C.N.N. report on organized crime. Not surprisingly the main focus was on Intergang. He laughed a little before taking a drink of his scotch as he listened to the reporter talk about what he knew of the hierarchy. Apparently Intergang was most likely headquartered somewhere In Europe and was run by a group of people, rather than a single leader.

When he was sure that it was all theory and speculation he switched off the program and looked across the club to see Lois chatting up one of his men. He laughed at his discomfort, all of his men had gotten the message that she was off limits and they had been scared to defy the order even a little bit.

He signaled for another drink from the bar tender who promptly brought it over. " Hey Deacon."

" Yeah boss." The man looked up from pouring the drink.

" Get Aphrodite over here." The man nodded and made his way over to put the bottle of scotch back under the bar before making his way over to Lois.

Kal smirked at the look of surprise on Lois's face. He wasn't surprised; it had been two weeks since they had really spoken. It wasn't that he was avoiding her; it was just that the Triads had asked a favor and he felt the need to handle the situation himself. On top of that his plan to reclaim Metropolis was now in full effect and the most crucial part would be enacted the next day.

He enjoyed the view as Lois sauntered up to the table, " Long time no see." Lois had not exactly been pleased with her lack of face time with Kal. She would have been down right angry, but the fact was that he hadn't been at the club much lately.

Kal smirked, " Well I guess I haven't exactly been around lately, but I am now. Why don't you take a seat."

She sat down beside him, not quite sure exactly how to handle the situation. She could either play it cool, or be pissed that he had basically blown her off. In the end she decided to wing it.

" To what do I owe the pleasure of this summoning?" He rolled his eyes and smirked slightly as she quirked her eyebrow.

" I hardly call it a summoning, but if you're to busy to talk I'll leave you be." He spun in his seat to face her and waited for her answer clearly enjoying herself.

For once in the time she had spent with Kal she knew exactly what to do. " Well what can I say, the customers are waiting." Lois stood up and walked away purposely sauntering knowing that Kal was staring.

Kal looked at his watch knowing that he had important business tomorrow morning. Any other day he wouldn't have hesitated to go after her but tomorrow was to important to take lightly, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize his plans. He was about to turn back to the television when Lois bent over to pick something up.

Kal had no idea what she picked up, as he couldn't take his eyes off her rear end. He was shaken out of his haze when she quickly stood up and smirked at him before making her way into the back room.

" Hey Deacon, I'm going to be gone for the night. If I get any calls about plans for tomorrow just tell them that everything is a go." Kal never looked away from the doorway Lois had gone through as he said it.

" Sure Boss, whatever you say." Although he didn't look, Kal could practically see the man smirking and shaking his head.

Kal stood up and walked through the back door and into the changing area for the dancers. Lois was sitting in her seat facing him with her arms crossed over her chest and a victorious smirk on her face. " What brings you all the way back here."

Kal stopped and took in the confidant woman in front of him. She was more mature than she was back in Smallville, but some things never changed. She still threw him for a loop and he couldn't seem to walk away from her. Luckily for him he was different too and wasn't going to allow himself to be lead around like some sort of puppy.

He leaned against the wall and faced her, " I'm going for a bite to eat, would you like to join me?"

Lois smirked; she hadn't thought it would be this easy to get him to spend time with her again. She had spent the last two weeks searching the club for anything that could possibly be linked with Intergang. The problem was that no matter how hard she and Chloe looked, the evidence just wasn't there. There was only one room left to search and she knew that Kal was the only one with a key to his office.

In all honesty she had been relieved that Kal had been gone. When he was around, there were times in which she forgot that she was here as a reporter. Not to get to know him better.

" Well I guess I am a little hungry. Why not?" She stood up and made her way to her closet. She heard a swooshing sound but when she turned around nothing was out of place and Kal was just looking at her curiously.

She opened her closet and was surprised to see an entire wardrobe's worth of fancy dresses, all in her size.

" Why don't you meet me out front in ten minutes." She only nodded her head, trying to figure how the clothing that had not been there earlier that night had gotten their. It wasn't a stretch to think it was Kal's doing but how could he have known that they'd be going to dinner tonight.

She shook her head out of her thoughts as she realized that she needed to get moving. As she quickly changed and made sure she looked good in the dark blue dress she had picked out, she also put up a full-length coat that Kal had left her. She was about to exit when she remembered that she needed to talk to Chloe.

After looking for a moment and not spotting her she realized she needed to hurry and simply wrote her a vague note. She placed it on her own mirror knowing that Chloe would get it, and then preceded to walk out the front door.

She was surprised when instead of being met with the fancy Maybach, Kal was leaning against a restored 1967 Ford Mustang. She couldn't help herself from asking the question. " What's a guy like you doing with a car like this?"

Kal smirked, " Actually I refurbished it myself. Of course I had Wheels look it over just to make sure it was safe to use."

She smiled and shook her head as he opened the door for her and allowed her to sit before closing it behind her. Lois admitted she was relieved to see that he had installed a heater, as it was the first week of December and not exactly warm out side.

He pulled out of the driveway and began speeding down the streets of Metropolis. " So what have you been up to the past two weeks?" Lois decided to get the ball rolling; she wasn't going to make the same mistakes she had on their first outing. She was going to ask as many questions about him as she could and hoped he let something slip.

Kal looked at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. " I had some business to take care of out of town. Although I heard a certain girl from the club smacked one of our better customer's over the head."

Lois didn't mask the surprise on her face, " I uhh, I didn't know you had heard about that." One of the men's hands had wandered and Lois couldn't stop herself from decking him.

She was a little relieved when Kal only laughed slightly, " What can I say, I have pretty good hearing. The question now is why didn't you just alert the bouncer like I asked you to."

" Hey it was an instinct, he grabbed something he shouldn't have and I reacted." She crossed her arms over her chest in slight defiance.

" Hey don't get defensive, I know that shit happens. I'm just asking that next time you simply get up and get the bouncer, even just call him over." Kal gave her a pointed look before once again turning his eyes back to the road.

" Fine." She let out a breath and was about to ask another question before she was cut off.

" Now the real question is, where would you like to eat dinner?" He made a turn down a street and got on the highway and Lois felt she had to ask the question.

" If you don't know where we're eating dinner, then why are you driving this way?" She watched him smiled widely but only shrug his shoulders in response.

She looked down at her attire and tried to decide where she should pick. She thought about all of the nice restaurants she and Bruce had been to trying to decide on what she thought would be the best place to eat dinner. She thought back to how the other employees treated him, combined with the fact that they had sat in the owner's box at the show and decided to see just how much clout Kal had.

" Why don't we eat at Aragawa?" She watched as Kal's lips twisted into a devilish smirk that she couldn't help but think sexy. Aragawa was the most exclusive restaurant in town. They did not accept reservations and the lines were always out the door. Not even Bruce and Ollie could convince the owner to allow them special interest. She was admittedly curious to see how he would react when he couldn't get them in. Which she was a little bit surprised when instead of trying to worm his way out he simply exited in the direction of the resteraunt.

" Well Laney, you have good taste. It's actually one of my favorite's in Metropolis." Lois had figured out that Kal owned more than the Elysian Fields when he had mentioned out of town business, the question was, what exactly did that mean.

" Well I've never been, I hear the line's are way too long." She noticed he smirked again and wondered why this guy was always so confidant.

" Well I'm sure they'll have a table available." Intergang always-kept one table open at its expensive restaurants in case they needed to take a potential business associates to a nice dinner. This time it would pay off impressing Lois.

He looked outside as he drove and glanced at the stars, his eyes were naturally drawn to the area that Krypton should have been before speaking. " It's a beautiful night out tonight."

Lois lifted an eyebrow, " I guess, but this is the middle of Metropolis. It's not like you can see any of the sky."

He shrugged his shoulders as they pulled up to the front of the restaurant. " Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it's not there."

As a reporter Lois didn't need much convincing of that truth. " Yea but there is a line right there and I have no problem seeing that."

Kal rolled his eyes as he handed his keys over to the valet and took in the many men and women dressed in formal wear. He never understood how they got all dressed up and then allowed themselves to wait in line like that.

" C'mon." He nodded toward the front door and extended a hand to Lois.

She placed her hand in his and followed his lead. It wasn't her style but curiosity got the better of her and she wanted to see what kind of smooth talking Kal would try to get them into the restaurant with.

As they came to the front of the line Kal let go of her hand and stepped forward behind the host's desk. She watched Kal shake the man's hand and then whisper something in his ear. She quirked an eye in curiosity when the man's eyes went wide and he quickly made to escort him inside the main area of the restaurant.

Lois followed along impressed; there was no way that should have worked. It had taken Kal all of ten seconds to convince the host to let him in. Both Bruce and Ollie had tried to make reservations here and they were rich and famous. Suddenly one thought took up the entirety of her head. ' Who the hell was this guy?'

As they took their seats Lois waited until the host had walked away until going into reporter mode, " How the hell did you do that?"

For what seemed like the millionth time he put on that confidant smile and Lois couldn't help but role her eyes. " You know at one point you're going to have to start answering my questions with real answers."

" What, my answers aren't real enough for you." He leaned back in his chair as he spoke.

" Well, let's see, this is the second time you've taken me out and I know almost nothing about you." It was honest enough response, and it wouldn't bring on suspicion.

" Well what do you want to know?" Originally Kal was going to shrug off the question, but when he looked into her eyes he saw genuine curiosity and couldn't resist seeing where this conversation led.

Lois was pretty sure that she hadn't masked all of the surprise on her face, but she did try. " Well for starters what's your last name? Or I don't know, besides the club what do you do for a living?"

Kal waited as a server came over and poured their drinks and took there orders before answering. " Well my full name is Calvin Ellerman. As for what I do, I happen to own a few businesses, the list of which I won't bore you with. One of which happens to be this restaurant."

'Well that explained how they got in, and gave her another lead.' She wanted to ask for details, but knew that she had to give off the appearance of a woman who was just interested in him. " I'm impressed. Should I expect anymore surprises from you tonight?"

He laughed a little bit, " Well I am full of them, but for tonight I'd say you're in the clear. Although if you get to ask questions about me, then I think it' s only fair to tell me about yourself."

Lois began to recount stories of "her" life to Kal. They all had truth in them but were changed up just enough to fit her new character. He had kept quiet, but his first comment surprised her. " That must have been hard, growing up without your mom."

Her eyes widened, she hadn't actually told him that she had died when she was younger. " How did you know that."

" Because all of your stories somehow involve pissing off your dad. I used to know a girl who told similar stories, she had a way of finding trouble too." He smiled and despite her self she genuinely smiled back.

" And who says I have a way of finding trouble." She took a bite of her steak as she awaited the answer. She had to admit it was great food.

" Well, I'll take your lack of a denial as the only proof I need." He smiled and she scowled at him.

" O and what about you Mr. entrepreneur, how is it that of all the supposed businesses you own you spend most of your time at a strip club." She quirked her eyebrow triumphantly.

" Well what can I say." Kal slid his hand across the table and placed it on top of hers. " I like the company."

She felt the warmth of his hand and smiled slightly as a blush crept up her neck. Her eyes widened when the realization hit her that she was actually blushing because of a man that she believed to be a criminal. She was about to pull away when she looked into his eyes and got lost. They were the bluest set of eyes she had ever seen, and while she hadn't known the man very long, they made her feel like he had known her for years. She wasn't sure how long the staring lasted but did know that they were broken out of it by the waiter bringing them the check.

Kal removed his hand and picked it up. Lois shook herself out of her haze and would have made a crack that he was paying in his own restaurant but she was lost in her own head. She may have started the night on track, but once again it had gotten away from her. They stood up and silence and made their way to the valet stand outside as they awaited their car.

Kal was being uncharacteristically quiet, for the first time in a long time he was completely shocked. He knew he had been attracted to Lois, but that didn't really mean anything he went from girl to girl on a pretty frequent bases. Until tonight he had thought that he was slowly trying to seduce her. But as she regaled him with her stories he was actually trying to figure out what was fact and what was fiction. Not to use against her, but because he was generally interested. The biggest shock of all was the staring contest they had taken part in. Because of it, he had realized that for whatever reason, he was beginning to have feelings for his old friend. He just couldn't figure out what the hell to do with that information now.

They made it into the car without a word as Kal drove her back towards the club, after a few moments Lois couldn't take the silence any more. " Thank you for dinner."

" Not a problem, after all I did invite you out." Kal slowly let his confidence overtake him; after all he was leader of Intergang, the most powerful organization ever to exist. In fact he was probably the richest and most powerful man on the face of the earth. Feelings or no feelings, it didn't change anything, he couldn't afford to have a weakness, and falling for someone; would give him a very prominent one.

" Yeah, but I didn't actually expect you to take me to Aragawa." She was seriously just trying to keep the awkward tension from taking over before he dropped her off.

" Well what can I say, I aim to please" Kal turned into the club and stopped right in front of the door.

" You know you don't always have to do that." Lois couldn't really help herself, it bothered her that he was always giving a stock answer.

" Do what?" Kal wasn't sure what she was talking about.

" Give the suave answer instead of the real one." She smirked at the slight surprise that showed on his face. It made him seem more like a normal guy,

Kal sighed, not quite understanding how after six and a half years she still managed to get into his head. " I am who I am Laney."

He stepped out of the car and walked around before she could respond. He opened her door and helped her out. They stood their for a moment looking everywhere but each other, both not quite knowing what to do next.

" Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Lois punched him in the shoulder and quickly walked away heading back towards her apartment.

Kal watched her go away smirking, she never stopped with the punching; And judging by her quick exit he wasn't the only one being effected by their feelings. He continued stand their and watch her as she made it to her apartment and went upstairs. He didn't stop watching until she opened the door to her apartment.

He walked inside and went straight to his office only stopping to pick up a bottle of whiskey. He walked into his office and made his way into his office. He pressed a button on his desk and an expensive queen sized bed slid out of the wall. He normally only used it when he had a girl, but tonight he didn't feel like going home after all he had to be up early and felt like crashing. As he took a drink from the bottle and fell onto the bed one thought ran through his mind. ' If I couldn't keep away from her when I hated her, how am I going to stay away from her now?"

TBC…

I was going to respond to your comments, when I realized that you would all probably prefer me post this chapter. When I began writing this update I had no intention of this update being Kaloisy, as you can see that changed completely. I hope you enjoyed it, and I really do appreciate the reviews and the Karma. I think you're all going to like the next update it's something that a lot of people have been waiting for.


	9. Chapter 9

It was 8 A.M, which meant it was time for Kal to signal the masses. He placed a hand to his earpiece and spoke as if to no one in particular. " Well boys it's rush hour, any body have and idea as to how we should get to work."

The other teams began to rattle off street and highway names as a signal that they were ready. When the line went silent he nodded to his team and they made their way down the manhole that Kal had selected as their point of entry. Before entering he looked down at the black cargo pants and casual jacket he was wearing. Laughing to himself that when he finally got to go to work in something other than a suit he was going to have to ruin the outfit by going into the sewer.

" Okay ladies and gents, we have a lot of walking to do so let's get moving." After looking at the blue prints, he had decided to take a longer route than necessary, but it was also the easiest. He knew he had to do this the right way, rather than the most direct way.

They came to the first obstacle and all six people stopped except for the man on the far right. " Two minutes Keys."

Keys nodded back at Kal and took out a small satellite looking instrument. Buttons began to light up and the man pressed them in an order Kal didn't feel like trying to memorize. The entire sewer corridor lit up for a moment and when the light cleared there was now a visible laser grid at their feet.

" Okay boys, don't trip the wire." Kal led the group through the complicated laser grid until ten minutes later they were on the other side. They walked for another fifteen minutes before coming to a door.

Kal laughed a little bit, wondering why someone would keep a secret entrance in the sewers of Metropolis. It may have been a decent hiding place, especially with the extra security; but a door with a retinal scanner in a sewer tended to stand out.

The woman to keys left stepped to the front and began to inspect the retinal scanner. " Three minutes Melissa."

" No pressure there." She pulled out what appeared to be a two-foot tube out of the bag strung over her back and placed one end in front of the scanner. Keys stepped over to take over the weight of the tube as Melissa went to the front and slid a cover panel out. She began to press an intricate series of buttons and Kal watched in slight awe as it somehow got the retinal scanner to believe they belonged.

The door slid open and Kal quickly walked inside not waiting for the others. The two guards on duty turned and began to draw their weapons but Kal simply put a small burst of speed on and knocked each man out cold before carrying them to the side of the room. As he set the guards down the rest of his team walked into the room.

" Get to work." They all nodded back to Kal as he stood back and began to watch the six people work in unison. He had to hand it to Lex, his system wasn't easy to crack but luckily for Kal, he had six of the best hackers in the world and technology that was beyond the reach of even Luthor.

Twenty minutes later Kal saw the relief written on the faces of the hackers as a giant screen opened in the front asking for passwords. Four to be exact, all of the hackers stood and turned to him and Keys spoke. " We've done all we can boss, we need the passwords to do anything else."

Kal stared at the screen for a long time before shaking his head. It was almost too easy. " Try Lucas, Lana, Julian, and Lillian."

The hackers shot each other skeptical looks but they all knew not to question the boss. The man closest to the computer stepped forward and timidly typed in the four passwords. Shooting one final glance back to Kal before hitting the enter key. All the people in the room let out a sigh of relief when they were allowed access to the mainframe..

" Go deep, I want to know everything. But remember to leave a little present for him." Kal smirked; he was simultaneously taking all of the information off of Lex's mainframe and leaving a fatal virus that would hopefully bankrupt the company. Kal liked to consider it a preemptive strike, he knew Lex well enough to know that if he didn't strike quick and hard that Intergang would be blind-sided. The damage from this mainframe crash would keep Lex busy for years.

It took another twenty minutes for all of the files to be uploaded on multiple portable hard drives, and another 10 minutes after that to upload the virus. Kal could only imagine how long this would have taken had he not had such resourceful hackers at his command.

" Okay boss, we're good to go." The man called Tongs handed Kal the duffel bag full of portable hard drives. It was a fairly large bag and might hit the grid on the way back but it didn't matter if they were caught now. They would be gone long before anyone could react to a security alert.

" Well let's not keep the others waiting then." Kal's smirk was soon followed by those of his teammates; After throwing the bag over his shoulder Kal picked up a guard with each hand and began to make his way back through the sewer system.

" Hey boss, what are you going to do about the guards?" It was Tongs who asked the question.

" The only thing that virus will do today is make it appear as if we were never here. It will then lay dormant for a few weeks before wreaking havoc on Luthor corp. The only problem with that is that these guards will be able to report to their boss. So I'm going to make them both believe that nothing out of the ordinary happened today, so that tomorrow they will believe all is as it should be." There was an awkward silence before the member of his team known as bangs spoke up.

" How are you going to be able to do that? It's not like you can alter their memories." The team exchanged glances as they saw Kal's knowing smile.

" Who says I can't." After that none of the team members spoke, not quite sure how he could do it, but knowing that he could just the same. There were always rumors through Intergang as to how powerful the boss was, but none knew for sure. The reason for that was simple, no one wanted to be the one to find out the answer.

After a while the group ascended to the surface where two white unmarked van's awaited them. The group turned to look at Kal. " The van on the left will take you all to a small airport at the edge of Metropolis where a private plane is waiting to take you to Hawaii for a well earned vacation. I'll call when I require your services." The group smiled at him saying thank you as they made their way towards the van. As it drove off he turned to the van on the right and made his way towards it stepping into the back and then proceeding to place both of the men in the van. He stepped out and closed the doors before making his way to the driver's side window.

The driver rolled it down, " You realize I have never like technology."

Kal smirked, " I know, and I apologize but I doubt you wanted to explain to my team how you were getting two large men back to their apartments without the help of transportation."

" You are the most powerful man alive and yet you still rely on others, I have never understood you Kal." He opened the door and offered her a hand as she stepped out.

" My empire is to vast for me to control every aspect, and although I could easily have broken into the mainframe myself, I couldn't have done so subtly. This way the hit is a true surprise." They began to slowly make their way towards the back of the van.

" So you wish me to alter their memories to make them believe that today was an ordinary day." He nodded his head; she always did have a way of changing subjects quickly.

" Yes, here are their addresses don't have them wake until tomorrow. O and you might want to heal the bumps on their heads." They both smiled slightly at his last remark.

They came to the back of the van and leaned against it. " I will do this, although I do so only because I owe you my life. After this we are even."

Kal smirked, " Doesn't mean I can't call you for a favor."

She shook her head slightly, " I am not fool enough to refuse you, I only mean to remind you that the debt has been paid."

He opened the door and she stepped inside of it and took a look at the two men before turning back and giving Kal a suggestive smirk. " You know every kingdom needs a queen Kal-el."

" Goodbye Talla." Kal rolled his eyes and watched as Talla and the guards disappeared in a flash of neon blue light. Kal shook his head, no matter how many times he told her no she continued to try to win him over.

He opened the duffel bag and took out the change of clothes he had shoved in earlier. It was the exact same outfit; the only difference was that it was clean. He stepped back into the alley to change before vaporizing his old outfit.

He placed a hand to his earpiece and spoke. " Well I got through traffic, how about everyone else."

Each team took their turns reporting back, Kal was not surprised to hear success especially considering that the difficulty of the jobs increased in order of check in. When all but the last group had checked in he knew something had gone wrong. Kal sighed before super speeding to the club to drop off the bag and then back across town to the top of the globe of the Daily Planet building where he gazed upon the Federal Reserve Bank at the edge of downtown.

He saw that the perimeter had been surrounded by police officers and that his men were in the middle of a hostage crisis. To top it off the few trying to break into the vault had been unsuccessful. As the anger started to mount he pushed it down knowing it would only effect his concentration. The point of all this was to hit Metropolis and hit it hard so that it would be clear to everyone that Intergang was still strong. He had hit almost twenty major spots today but this was the most important, and the team had completely bungled it. He would deal with them later, right now he would be forced to help them out. He pulled a mask out of his pocket before sliding it on his head and speeding off.

In an instant he was standing inside the surveillance room of the bank where an unconscious guard laid on the floor. Kal saw that the team had disabled all of the surveillance equipment and noted that at the very least the team had done that right.

He walked out of the room and down the hallway of the bank before turning into the safety deposit box room and passing through the security checkpoint and walking into the vault room. There he noted that not only half of the team was waiting but a handful of unconscious security guards were also in the corner. The team had been intently focused on the vault and was shocked to hear Kal's voice. " What the hell did you do?"

They jumped and turned around to see the man in black cargo pants, a black t-shirt and a black jacket staring at them through a black mask. Somehow they all knew it was the boss.

After the initial shock one of the men spoke up, " One of the tellers triggered a silent alarm before we could stop her. Half of us stayed at the front so that the police would focus on them instead of the vault. They've been negotiating for about an hour, we just gave up the first hostage so that they would continue to believe negotiations to be the best option. We've been working on opening the vault but… " The man trailed off not wanting to be the one to explain that they couldn't even get the vault open.

Kal scowled, it didn't matter how good they were. They panicked and turned this into a hostage situation rather than bailing. If they had run when the alarm was triggered the cops would have chalked it up to amateurs coat tailing on the other crimes and hoping that the police were busy.

He walked quickly to the vault and out of anger or necessity, he wasn't sure, thrust his hand through the metal. He yanked the vault door clear off his hinges and dropped it onto the floor allowing it to lean against the wall. " Get in there." He pointed inside the vault and the team in the room scrambled to get in and began loading the millions of dollars into bags. Kal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose wondering if he should have listened to Talla and done this job himself.

" You know, I'm sure simply opening the vault door would have sufficed." Kal's head shot up as he heard the voice from behind him. He silently cursed himself for not keeping his senses more attuned to the environment around him. As he expanded his senses he realized that his men in the front of the bank now had company also.

" Well where's the fun in that." Kal stood up straight deciding that this job was beyond human means to repair. Lucky for him he wasn't human.

" Put your hands up and turn around slowly." By now Kal's men had stopped loading the money into bags and watched with wide eyes as their boss did as he was told.

When Kal turned around he couldn't help but smirk at the sight before him. His old friend the Green Arrow was standing there with an arrow pointed at his heart. " Tell your men stop what they're doing and step out of the vault."

Kal stared at his one time friend mildly impressed at his ability to sneak up on him. Kal nodded his head as if in compliance. " Keep loading the money up, don't worry this will be over soon."

He could see the surprise followed by amusement written on Ollie's face, even through the hood and glasses. " Wow their actually listening to you, I'm surprised most of you criminals tend to listen when I point this at you."

Kal nodded his head; " I guess you could say I'm not most criminals then."

" If you don't do what I say I'm going to have to shoot you." Kal noted the seriousness in Ollie's tone and decided to see where this was going.

" I'm going to tell you what. How about if you put that bow and arrow down right now, I won't put you into that wall over there." Kal took a slow step forward as he spoke, and noticed Ollie pull back slightly on the bow.

" Don't move another muscle!" Kal nodded slightly, Ollie had definitely matured since they had last met. This was no longer about revenge for him, it was justice.

" Or what?" Kal put a little bit of menace into his voice; old friend or not he was not a man to be threatened. He took a more deliberate step forward this time.

The green arrow shook his head, " This was your choice." Ollie didn't like doing this, but this was about the safety of the others in the bank. He let the Arrow fly from his bow and watched as it struck the man in black straight in the chest. He watched as electricity flooded the man's body attacking his nervous system waiting for him to pass out.

He knew something was wrong before the electricity even disappeared. Instead of the wild jerking motions this arrow usually caused the man stood perfectly still and upright. When the electricity subsided Ollie couldn't believe his eyes, the man looked completely unharmed except for the smoke rising off his body. Ollie looked on in horror as the man just stood their laughing.

" Wow, you know that actually tickled a little bit." Kal straightened his jacket pleased by Ollie's reaction. He walked in front of Ollie and looked down on him.

" Now I gave you a chance but I am a man of my word." With a flick of his hand Kal through Ollie across the room and into the wall knocking him unconscious.

The team looked on in awe until Kal glared at them and they went back to work. " Where are the supplies I gave you."

One of the team members nodded towards the wall where Kal saw a bag, he dug through it until he found what he was looking for. It was time to go deal with their other visitor.

[i]Front of the Bank…[/i]

Batman had dealt with almost all of the bank robbers, but one still remained and seeing as he was now unarmed it wouldn't be long before his work was done. Hopefully Ollie had made the same amount of progress.

Bruce delivered the final kick as the man fell down unconscious. He then shook his head as he turned towards the hallway that he knew led to the vault. He was surprised however to see a man wearing black from the mask on his head to the shoes on his feet standing there holding the green arrow with one hand.

" Well if it isn't the famous Batman, I have to admit you did an impressive job seeing as you were out numbered six to one." He watched the man toss Ollie on the ground like a rag doll.

Bruce made a move toward Ollie to help but the man's voice stopped him. " I wouldn't do that if I were you. I know you probably can't see from there, but I've taped a small grenade on the inside of his mouth. If I press this button." Bruce's eyes widened as he saw the detonator in the man's hand. " You'll be cleaning him off the floor with a mop."

" What do you want?" Bruce knew he had to find a way to get that detonator and given the right opportunity he believed he could. He just had to play along until the right moment.

" I want you to drag my friends there into the back room with me." Kal picked up Ollie and walked back towards the vault leaving Bruce slightly stunned.

Bruce wasn't sure exactly what this man's game was, but he didn't really see an option. Something told him that the man who had given the instructions wasn't bluffing.

He slowly carried each person one by one to the back room trying to gain as much information as he could with each trip. From what he could tell their were a dozen people in the room and they had finished unloading the vault. When the last man was in the room Bruce asked the obvious question. " Now what?"

" Now you walk into the hallway and count to one hundred, after that you can have your friend back."

Bruce took a step forward but Kal held out the detonator causing him to stop. " I won't just leave him here."

Kal shook his head; the good guys never knew when to quit, " You don't have a choice."

Every muscle in Bruce's body screamed to stay as he made his way into the hallway and just far enough down that he couldn't see into the room. There was something about this guy that didn't sit well with him. He was to…calm. Bruce had dealt with more criminals than anybody should and he had seen it all, crazy, hyper, depressed, desperate, enraged. But never calm, it was unsettling to say the least, and Bruce could swear he heard a whooshing sound but believed it was his nerves getting to him. At 60 seconds he could take it no longer and stepped back into the vault room only to find it empty except for the man in black who had Ollie still unconscious at his feet.

" Where'd the friends go?" Bruce began to scan the room looking for an answer.

" They had better places to be." Bruce glanced at Kal skeptically; something about him was just unsettling to Bruce.

" I find that hard to believe." When he realized that he wouldn't be able to find anything he turned all of his attention back to the man in black.

Kal smirked and nodded slightly, " Well I find it hard to believe that the prince of Gotham City is the widely feared Batman."

Bruce froze, he couldn't possibly know. People had been trying to find out his identity for years and he knew of every person who had been told or figured it out. Whoever this guy was he wasn't one of those people.

" I don't know what you're talking about." Kal smirked and took a few steps forward but Bruce stood his ground.

" I'm talking about the fact that by day you're Bruce Wayne playboy billionaire, and by night you're the crime fighting vigilante known as Batman." Kal laughed a little bit, " I mean, what the hell goes through a man's mind when he starts dressing like a bat and fighting the same criminals over and over again. I mean do you really think you're making a difference. It doesn't matter who you put in Arkham, they will always break out. " Kal waived his hand in front of his face and laughed a little bit. " Actually I only have one question."

Bruce only stared, trying hard not to make a move on this guy. He had faced tons of arrogant bastards like this and wanted nothing more than to knock him down a peg or two. If it weren't for the detonator in his hand he knew he would have tried. " Well don't leave me hanging in suspense."

Kal was impressed with Bruce, even though his pulse was racing he seemed as calm as ever. " Just how depressing is it being you Bruce? Would you equate it to a guy with a drug problem? Or being diagnosed with a terminal illness?" Sure Kal knew he was being cruel, but it wasn't his fault. After all this was Lois's boyfriend, however temporarily, and Kal was bound to have a little hostility towards him.

" Well it'll be a lot less so once I put you behind bars." As quickly as Kal had ever seen an average human move, Bruce threw a batarang at Kal's hand. He was stunned when he saw that the man somehow caught it with his other hand.

" Now that was incredibly stupid." Kal hurled the thing back at him and it left a cut on Bruce's face from just below the lip to just above. The force caused Bruce to turn his head and as he did he saw the batarang plunge into the steel wall and stick there.

When he turned back around the man in black was gone leaving only Ollie and the detonator behind. That had been an impossible throw, there was no way he should have been able to spin it precisely to cut open his lip that. Bruce shook himself out of his haze realizing that Ollie might be badly hurt and began to inspect him. Aside from what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder and a handful of bruises he seemed to be all right.

After removing the grenade and disarming it, Bruce lifted Ollie onto his shoulders and made his way to the front of the bank carrying his friend to the nearest ambulance and watched as the E.M.T.'s pushed the shoulder back into it's socket and patched up all of the visible bruises. Bruce always appreciated that medical officials never tried to reveal their identities during treatment. That didn't mean he didn't' keep an eye on them, but he still appreciated it.

The police had already run into the bank to look for stragglers and bring the hostages out side to be looked at. Not a single one had been harmed, and Batman was thankful, in the end the safety of the people was more important than the money inside, but Bruce was still worried.

Whoever that man was, knew beyond a doubt that he was never in danger. He had robbed a federal reserve bank, faced down both Batman and the Green Arrow and basically wound up treating them like rag dolls, not to mention he knew their secret identities. Bruce felt a chill run down his spine; this was one of almost two-dozen crimes that he was sure was the work of Intergang, all committed in the same day and not a single arrest had been made.

He turned to see Ollie sitting up and shaking his head slightly, Bruce made his way back to the ambulance and signaled for the E.M.T's to give them a minute alone.

" How are you feeling." Bruce watched as Ollie shook his head a little bit.

" Like I got thrown into a wall." Ollie looked around to check his bearings. " What happened?"

" Basically, a man wearing a mask beat the crap out of you, took you hostage and taped a grenade into your mouth. He then forced me to drag the men I had knocked out into the vault. He them made me go out into the hall for a minute, when I came back into the room his entire team was gone and so was what their estimating was 500 million dollars of government money. He taunted me a little before telling me that he knew our secret identities and tossing my own battarang back at me, giving me this nasty little gash on my mouth right here." Bruce pointed to his mouth as Ollie shook his head in response. " When I turned back around he had disappeared leaving only you and the detonator behind."

They stood there side by side before Ollie spoke, " Care to tell me how he figured out our secret identities."

Bruce shook his head, " No idea, but I do know one thing."

Ollie stood up as they began to walk, " and what's that?"

" We need to find out who the hell that guy was." Both Ollie and Bruce nodded, neither quite knowing what had happened, but sure that something was off about today and knowing that they needed to find out what.

Kal threw his mask off and started pacing; he was standing with the bank team at the docks where all of the stolen money, and items from the day's heists were being shipped away on very small, very fast boats. When they were beyond the horizon he turned to see the team all with fear written on their faces. They had all done jobs for the boss before and were used to being sent on their way, something was wrong, and none of them wanted to know what it was.

" Now, I've been thinking about this for a while. Every single job went off without a hitch. All except one, that would be yours in which I had to not only open the vault for you but also face down the Green Arrow and Batman who are now very likely going to be trying to find out exactly who I am." He turned to face the team and paused to let the fear set in a little more.

" Now normally in this situation I have two options, I can forgive your errors and let you go on about your business. Or I can kill all of you for your failure. But seeing as how the job got done and all of you are normally very good at what you do. Killing you would cause me more problems than fix, and forgiving you would make me appear weak they are both out of the question."

" Instead I'm going to take your commission from this job the next job I send you on. If any of you have a problem with that, we can discuss it in private." Kal shot them a look that told them exactly what he meant by that.

They all only nodded in ascent all very grateful to make it out with their lives. Kal sent them on their way. He sighed as he leaned against the railing of the docks. Today was a victory in the eyes of Intergang and a large one at that; But not for him personally. Chloe and Lois would only be more inclined to find information on the leader of his organization, and he was now going to have to deal with Batman and The Green Arrow getting directly involved. He would have killed them today but he was ashamed to admit that he had let emotion get involved.

Kal squeezed the bar a little to hard with both hands and wound up breaking it off the railing. He had let his emotions take over today and choose to spare Lois the loss of two of the closest people in her life, rather than do what was best for his organization. He realized that he had been doing this more than he should lately and it had led him to a crossroads in his life. He was either going to have to put himself in front of the organization. Or put the organization in front of himself. Until now his interests and Intergang's interests had always been aligned, in fact because of him, Intergang was now more powerful than ever before and had greater connections than anyone other than himself could possibly imagine. For the first time in a long time he wasn't sure what was going to happen next and he wasn't sure what to do about it.

He looked around to make sure no one could see him before taking off as fast as he can. No matter how cluttered his brain was, there was something about flying that always seemed to help. Hopefully it would clear a certain fiery reporter from his head, but somehow he knew he wasn't that lucky.

TBC…


	10. Chapter 10

Ollie was walking outdoors despite the cold weather. He was wearing an expensive coat that was both light and good at keeping him warm. He vaguely noticed that it was silent other than the slight howl of the wind. He shifted the arm in his sling slightly as he made it to his destination preparing for the conversation he felt he had to have. He had been out of commission for a couple of weeks and could rarely even speak to Chloe, as it would have been hazardous to her health.

The side effect of this was that he had nothing but time to think about the encounter at the bank and couldn't even talk much to Bruce about it as he was pulling double duties as Batman. Ollie smirked slightly at the thought; Bruce had taken that day at the bank personally and refused to tell him exactly why. Ollie didn't know exactly what had happened in that bank but you would have thought that Bruce had been the one tossed into a wall.

Ollie sat down and waved awkwardly at the friend he had come to see, as he began to speak. " I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you in a while but it's been crazy."

" In fact I could have used your help the other day." Ollie laughed slightly at his own misfortune. It wasn't often that he got beat in a fight and he had to admit that when he got beat it was bad.

" Of course all I really needed was one of the three people with super strength I know by my side, in fact I met a woman over in Greece who might have given you a run for your money, although admittedly she doesn't have the same propensity for giving me lectures that you used to." Ollie shook his head at the memories before he became serious again.

" Look I know that I only come around here when things get bad, and that you can't really help me, but the truth is things are kind of rough right now." Ollie sighed and looked down before taking a deep breath and continuing.

" I think that Chloe and Lois are in over their heads, and I don't think that I need to tell you of all people just how stressful that can be." He put his knees up and rested his arms on them and looked back up as he continued.

" I know that no one comes around here much, but the fact is neither of the girls can even hear your name and still be anything but sad or angry." Ollie thought back to the time he had brought up the anniversary of the event and neither woman had spoken to him for three days, and that was saying something for both women.

" I guess I'm just trying to say that despite the differences that we had I still wish we were fighting side by side." Ollie shook his head.

" The man I fought at the bank…I've been beaten that badly three other times in my life. One was by that woman I told you about earlier, the second was a man from Gotham by the name of Bane, and the third was by you. I have to say that I sometimes miss the days when I only had Luthor to worry about and not Intergang and a whole slew of super villains."

Ollie paused and stood up as he rested his hand on Clark's headstone. " I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have a bad feeling about what's happening and could use your help." Ollie smirked a little bit, " Maybe you can ask the big guy to help us out a little bit, after all if your not one of the big guy's favorites I can only imagine what he thinks of me.."

He began to walk away before realizing that a joke wasn't where he wanted to leave things. " In all seriousness, I hope you're doing well up there and I'm doing my best to watch out for the girls. I've even kept an eye on your mom for you but she seems to be doing all right by herself… I'll try to make it out here as soon as I can but I hope you'll understand if it might be a while. " Ollie didn't have the heart to tell him that the farm wasn't being kept up as well as it had been.

He walked out of the quiet cemetery making his way back to his car shivering slightly. He didn't come to visit Clark very often but he always made a point to visit his grave every few months. After all he wasn't only doing this for himself, but for Chloe and Lois as well.

*****************************************************

Lois watched from across the bar as a small group of men sitting at Kal's booth were relaxing in their seats enjoying the view of one of the girls as she slid down the pole beside the table.

She looked to the bartender as she spoke, " What time is it?"

" It's about 3 A.M. Why?"

Three meant that Lois was off duty and that when the meeting was over she was free to invite Kal out for a late dinner. After going over the past couple of occasions in which Kal had taken her out she had somehow been sidetracked and the night turned into a date that she never intended to be on.

" No reason." She could hear him chuckling to himself but choose to ignore it as she refocused her attention on Kal.

She figured that this time she would invite him somewhere and take control of the situation. She wound up waiting another twenty minutes before the men stood up from the table, shook Kal's hand and walked out of the club all seemingly pleased with what had transpired.

Instead of staying in the booth as she had hoped he would, he stood up and made his way towards the back and proceeded into his office. " Goodnight." The bartender waived slightly as she made her way towards the back of the room.

She made her way down the hallway and past the series of doors until she came to the final one and was slightly surprised to find that it was unlocked.

Kal had just fallen down on the slide out bed in his office and sighed. He normally left what he considered minor issues to one of his 12 lieutenants because he hated the politics of it all. Tonight he had spent an hour zoning Metropolis amongst the five men who would normally work beneath his lieutenant and had been bored out of his mind. It was important in theory but ultimately all major decisions would be made by himself or by the lieutenant he put in charge of the city.

He had been mulling things over in his head for a few days now and had come to a conclusion; He had to leave Metropolis. Intergang was once again the most feared organization in Metropolis. Intake was up both in legitimate and illegitimate businesses and there wasn't a criminal on the streets of Metropolis that dared overstep the authority that had been given to them, much less talk to the police when they were arrested, and tomorrow morning the news would report that Lexcorp was in trouble and that no one knew how it had happened.

On the other hand both Batman and the Green Arrow would only be held off for so long before showing up on his doorstep, or at the very least a doorstep that they shouldn't be on. Kal was confident but not stupid, and he knew it would be unwise to underestimate either man. Added to the reasons to leave the city was that the infiltration of Maccau was not going as smoothly as anticipated and Kal would usually have stepped in to change that by now. In fact there was only one reason to stay, and it was the only thing that had kept him here this long.

Knock…Knock….Knock.

Kal turned his head towards the door not needing to use any of his super senses to know who was knocking on it. He stood up, straightened his jacket, and pressed the button that allowed the bed to slide back into the wall. " Come in."

Lois opened the door and Kal instantly noticed that she was still in costume. " I just got off work, and was wondering if you wanted to do something."

Kal leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. " Well what do you feel like doing?"

Lois decided to mimic Kal by leaning against the doorway and crossing her arms over her chest. " Well I'm in the mood to play some pool, I figure I'll be able to win some cash off of you."

Kal laughed slightly, " It's 3 a.m. How many pool halls do you know of that are still open."

Lois quirked an eyebrow at him, " Which ever ones you own."

" And what makes you think that I own any pool halls?" Kal knew it was only a matter of time before a few of the pieces started to come together so far she hadn't asked anything to alarming.

Lois knew that this was her chance to find some actual information on Kal, after going over their last two outings she had realized that Kal was much more than a simple club owner. She didn't know how high up on the Intergang chain he was but she did know that he was running more than just the Elysian fields, whether he ran legitimate aspects or illegitimate aspects of the organization had yet to be seen.

" Call it a hunch." Kal watched as Lois twisted her lips into a sexy smirk and Kal knew right then he would be at a pool hall shortly.

" Well then why don't you change and let's go, it just so happens that a certain pool hall that I know of is open 24 hours a day." She only nodded in response as she exited the office and presumably went to change. Kal shook his head slightly; he realized it had taken Lois all of four short sentences to convince him to spend more time with her, even though he had just been thinking about leaving the city.

He opened up a drawer and pulled out a set of black khaki pants and a black golf shirt. It had been a long day and he really didn't feel like wearing his suit any longer. He put in a phone call to Wheels so that he would pull the car around.

He walked outside to see Lois already in the driver's seat of his H2. " You know I don't typically let anyone drive my cars."

Lois nodded her head, " Well I guess it's a good thing that I'm not just anyone." She knew that tonight she had to be in control every step of the way. That meant that she would have to be in the driver's seat both literally and metaphorically.

Kal sat down in the passenger's seat and leaned his head back before closing his eyes. Lois took the opportunity to start the conversation. " Seems like you had a rough day."

Kal laughed a little bit. " Not so much rough as mundane."

" You run multiple businesses, how could your day possibly be exciting… outside of interviewing new dancers of course." She quirked an eyebrow as she made a turn into the pool halls parking lot; Thinking ahead she had asked wheels where the closest open pool hall was and luckily it wasn't that hard to get to.

He opened his eyes as he felt the car stop but didn't get out of the car. Until now he hadn't noticed that she was in a pair of blue jeans with a jean jacket, and had a tight red top on underneath. She wasn't wearing any makeup and her hair was slightly messy. He had to admit she was even sexier than she was in the expensive dresses she had worn on their last two outings.

" I think you'd be surprised at some of the excitement that can come along with my job…" He briefly thought back to the bank job before coming back to reality, " Today just wasn't one of those days."

She smirked as they both stepped out of the car and made their way inside of the pool hall. Of the twenty or so tables within, only about five of them were occupied, surprisingly enough to Kal other than the employees none of the people within worked for him.

They made their way over to one of the tables near the bar and Kal began to rack as Lois picked up two cue's. Kal turned to the bartender and ordered two beers and placed them on the closest table before looking up at Lois.

She tossed a cue at him and spoke, " You rack'em, I crack'em."

Lois watched him smile as he took a drink as she broke the balls up, pleased to find that she had sunk three of them. " So what's been happening in your world lately?" She didn't even look at him as she continued to play the game.

" Well, my business in Metropolis is growing, but talking about me is only going to bore us. What about you?" She looked up this time, knowing that he was as always shifting the conversation.

" I take my clothes off for a living, now stop changing the subject. Technically speaking this is our third date and I don't really know anything about you. " Lois knew it was a risk, until now they had kept their time together vague. She knew that if he were going to trust her with anything she would have to give him a reason too, and the only way she could think to do that was by formalizing their relationship.

Kal quirked an eyebrow at her, " So you want to know about little old me?"

She looked up at him from across the table, " I'd hardly call a guy who's six foot four, and from the looks of it is solid muscle, little." She knocked in the six ball in, leaving only the eight, and the nine.

"Touche" He watched her as she moved on to the eight and nine balls seemingly engrossed in the game.

As Lois knocked in the nine ball she looked up again and decided for the first time to push the issue. She had been undercover as a stripper for a couple months now and was finally in a position to ask these questions without a reason for him to be suspicious. Instead of re-racking the pool balls she came over to take a sip of her beer. " Wow you lost that one fast."

She smirked at him, as he smiled back at her, " You do realize that I didn't even get to go up to the table."

" Well whose fault is that?" She put on an innocent face as he began to re-rack the balls.

She made her way back to the table and broke. " Now back to the issue at hand. Tell me something real about yourself."

" Why don't we just shoot a few more games and keep the conversation light." He smirked when she finally missed a shot.

" Well no one said I was perfect." She sat on the bar, she wasn't happy about his answer but she had all night to break him, and since he still seemed relaxed she saw no reason to stop her complaining.

The night wore on and both had to admit that they were enjoying each other's company. There was something about hanging out in a place that was not formal and not a strip club that made the night much less tense. Lois for her part was destroying Kal, he was down ten games to one and was tired of loosing.

" You know, you could have let me win a few games." He downed his fifth beer of the night as he plopped down onto the stool.

" I could have, and I might have; but you choose to talk about my life instead of yours like I asked. That meant that I had to get back at you somehow, beating you at pool over and over again was the easiest way on hand.

Kal shook his head, throughout the night she had been slipping in seemingly innocent questions that normally wouldn't have been a problem. They were however a problem once he realized that he wanted to answer them, and surprisingly enough he could see the genuine interest in her eyes.

As the latest game ended and Lois waited for his come back, Kal knew that it was time to pick the path he could never come back from. He could do the smart thing and leave for China and take over operations there, most likely to never return to the city that he had been through so much in. Or he could do the most impulsive and illogical thing he could ever remember doing and pursue a real relationship with a woman that would likely end up hating him when she found out that he was in fact her supposedly dead friend and simultaneously the person she had been trying to bring down for a very long time.

" How bout we make a bet." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the table as Lois racked the balls.

She stood up and looked at him, " I'm listening."

He nodded his head, " If you win the next game, I honestly answer 10 questions of your choice."

She quirked her eyebrow as her heart began to beat quickly in her chest. This could wind up being the big break she needed. " And if you win."

He smirked and Lois could see the challenge already forming in his eyes. " If I win, you come back to my place tonight, where you can ask as many questions as you want. I may not answer them all but that's what I get for winning."

She rolled her eyes, " That and me going back to your place."

He shrugged his shoulders knowing that their was no point in lying, " So are you in, or are you out?"

Lois smirked; the only game she had lost all night was when she had scratched while making the eight ball allowing Kal the easy last shot. " I'm in. Hell I'll even let you break."

Kal took the cue and smirked as he leaned over the table to shoot, smirking at the woman who was confidently leaning on a stool. " By the way I don't have any expectations…" Kal hit the cue ball and knocked in every ball on the table. " You can even stay in the guest room tonight if it makes you more comfortable. " He quirked an eyebrow at her challengingly.

Kal stared at her with an amused quirk of the eyebrow as she went a little bit wide-eyed wondering what exactly had happened. She quickly regained her composure remembering that she had promised herself she would stay in control tonight. " Well what are we waiting for." She quickly made her way towards the car hoping that Kal hadn't seen any of the panic written on her face. When she was out the door and out of sight she shook her head wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into tonight.

Kal watched her walk out and sighed as he let what happened wash over him; He couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was about this woman that made him willing to risk everything that he had worked for in the last six years, and somehow make it seem like the best decision of his life.

TBC…


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11: Penthouse **_

Kal opened the door as Lois stepped out as confidently as ever and even began to lead him towards the revolving door of the hotel. " So can you tell me why exactly you live in a hotel?"

Kal stuck his hands in his pockets as they entered the hotel and he walked by her side. " What can I say, I like the location."

Lois shook her head slightly, half of her was screaming at her to turn around and not look back while the other half was just to curious to walk away from the situation. " and this five star hotel is the only building with a good enough location for you"

" What can I say, It was easier than finding an apartment." She nodded her head as they continued to make their way through the lobby. She looked around and noticed the extravagance of the lobby and shook her head slightly.

Kal was almost always dressed in the best, drove expensive cars, and clearly had money to spare. It made sense that he lived in a place like this, but at the same time it almost didn't fit. It just seemed like he was much more comfortable in the pool hall tonight than he was in his suit.

They made their way towards the elevators but veered right just before the main bank. She quirked an eyebrow as he led her down a set of stairs and down a small hallway. When they came through the door at the end Lois was surprised to find a private elevator with a man on each side. One of the guards pressed a button and the elevator doors opened and they made their way inside.

She was about to speak but was stopped when Kal put a finger to his lips signaling for her to be quiet. She was curious but thought it a good idea to heed the warning. After what seemed like a while they arrived on the floor labeled pent house. They stepped out and Lois was once again surprised to see a guard on either side of the elevator as they made their way to the only set of doors on the floor. Kal pulled out a card key and opened the door before ushering her inside and shutting it behind him.

" Sorry about the silence, but there are security cameras in the elevator." He made his way across the living room and behind the bar.

Lois looked around the apartment and was once again impressed. For lack of a better term it was massive, and like something out of the movies. The room took up the entire top floor of the hotel and was clearly made for extended stays. In the part of the penthouse that Lois could their were two couches four large chairs and a big screen T.V. mounted on the wall. In the corner of the room lined with two windows there was a large glass table with what appeared to be about a dozen or so chairs surrounding it. She looked at the bar to see Kal pouring them each a glass of an alcohol she couldn't name from this distance.

" Is there a reason you wouldn't want us to be heard on your own private elevator." It was clear after only a moment in the room combined with the ride up that only one man would be staying in this room. The owner.

" Seeing as I'm not the only one who gets to see the security tapes I like to keep as much privacy as I can." She nodded her head as she slowly made her way over to the bar across from Kal and took a sip of her drink. It didn't take her long to realize that it was tequila.

" Well I guess you must be pretty successful if you own this place and no one even knows your name." He smirked as he downed the entire glass in one shot.

Kal was surprised at his own level of calm, when he had gotten Lois to come home with him he had been nervous as the eventual repercussions began to swirl in his head. Then something had happened, he had realized that he needed to do the same thing that he did with every important decision in his life. He accepted it and then embraced it, if he wanted Lois he would have to get her to let him inside and the only way to do that was by letting her in as well. The only thing left to decide was where to start. " What can I say, I'm not much for spotlight."

She nodded her head as she forced her mind to calm. He had explicitly told her that their were no expectations but that didn't mean she was stupid. She decided to try and knock him off balance a little bit. " If I recall you said I could ask you anything I wanted."

Kal nodded his head, " I did." He refilled both of their glasses, Lois could hold her liquor better than most but realized that she was drinking glasses of tequila not shots and needed to be careful.

" Well first question, how can you afford all of this?" He put his glass down on the bar as she made sure to hold his gaze.

" I gained control of a corporation that while isn't well known in the public, is well known by the higher ups in the corporate world." Kal made his way around the bar and sat on the closest couch in the living room.

Lois turned in her seat to follow him and finished her way to the to the opposite end of the couch as she downed her third and what she decided would be her final glass of liquor. " Would you mind telling me what corporation this is, or how you were able to rise to the top at such a young age."

" I'd tell you if I hadn't signed a confidentiality agreement." He relaxed against the back of the couch awaiting her next question.

" Okay, I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me something like what businesses you actually own. Or where you like to spend your free time." Lois knew they were simple questions, but she also knew that it was the only way she would be able to learn anything about him. It wasn't like he was just going to say hey Laney I commit illegal acts for a living.

" Well the lists of businesses I own is to extensive for me to try and list and as for what I like to do with my free time. I enjoy traveling and exploring whatever city I'm currently in." She only nodded along, he was still being vague but she was definitely breaking through.

" Okay, what's it like spending most of your time running the most exclusive strip club in town." He shifted a little bit as he answered.

" Honestly it gets kind of old." Neither of them noticed as he subconsciously shifted closer to her.

She quirked her eyebrow at this revelation, " What do you mean?"

" Well how would you feel if you spent almost all of your time in a place where everyone around you was just sucking up, and you could never really tell who genuinely just liked you for you." She quirked an eyebrow, so he was lonely that was understandable, but she was surprised when she realized that she felt bad for him.

" I guess it would be pretty hard to trust people." He suddenly stood up and made his way over to the window and looked out over the city.

Lois slowly stood and made her way towards the balcony as she felt the buzz from the alcohol take effect. She wasn't drunk but she definitely had a warm feeling flooding her body, that she refused to believe had anything to do with the man in front of her. " Well it makes getting close to people difficult, but sometimes that's the price you pay. What about you, what's it like to do what you do."

She came up to the window and stood a few feet away, maybe it was the alcohol talking but Lois decided to be honest without being to specific. " I guess you can get caught up in it. Always looking a little deeper making sure the person your talking to isn't dangerous." He nodded his head and Lois assumed he thought she was talking about dangerous customers.

He turned towards her and for the first time tonight Lois saw confidence radiating from Kal's eyes. " What about me, do you think I'm dangerous?"

He was now right in front of her and Lois's breath was heavy. Something in the air had shifted and the night had taken a turn Lois was sure that she had been determined to avoid. " Honestly, I don't know yet." It came out much softer than she had intended.

Lois was in over her head and wasn't sure how to come up for air. She knew this was wrong but for some reaons could not pull away. Somehow Kal had gotten closer and was lightly brushing up against her. " Well for the record as long as I'm with you, your not in any danger."

His hand slid up her arm and cupped her cheek lightly as his mouth came close enough that she felt his breath on her cheek. Her only response was an unintelligible mumble, as his breath got slightly heavier and her eyes fell closed in anticipation of what she knew was coming.

For whatever reason she was completely unable to move. She knew that this was wrong on so many levels but she had to put a stop to it. No matter what she didn't know about Kal, she did know that he would stop if she asked him to. She had gotten just enough of her senses under control to speak when his lips brushed against hers and all thought was lost.

It was gentle at first as if he was asking for permission but soon grew in intensity as she responded with full force. Her hands slid up his chest and around his neck as his found their way around her waist. He ran his tongue across her bottom lip and she responded by granting him access to her mouth.

His tongue began to massage hers as she groaned in response. He smirked as his hands made their way slightly under her shirt and made contact with her skin causing her entire body to heat up. She pressed herself tightly against as she wrapped a leg around his, tired of letting him make all the moves. She thrust herself slightly against him causing his breath to hitch as she pressed into his erection.

She trailed her mouth from his, and continued down his neck and smiling as he moaned in response. She was on her way back towards his mouth but was stopped when she felt his hands leave her skin and travel downward to grab her ass and lift her up.

She instinctually wrapped her legs around him pushing up against him and driving him wild. He kicked the doorway to the bedroom open and practically toppled onto the bed. As they continued to assault each other's mouths.

His hand came up her body running up her breast before cupping her face again in a surprisingly tender gesture.

The contact set Lois's body on fire and she suddenly couldn't take it any more, she needed him and she needed him now. Her hands quickly found the hem of his shirt and she pulled it over his head tossing it in a random direction. She allowed her nails to graze down his chest as they made their way to his pants quickly ridding him of those as well as his boxers..

Apparently Kal was just as excited as he tore her shirt off and made quick work of her jeans. Kal took a moment to appreciate her in nothing but a lacy black bra and matching thong before tearing those off as well.

Their frenzied kissing continued as he thrust into her, and she accidentally bit down on his bottom lip. Both minds were a haze of lust and passion, neither thinking of tomorrow, only focused on the feelings they were invoking in each other as they both neared the edge. With a final thrust they cried out simultaneously as the euphoria washed over them and Lois collapsed on him before they both allowed sleep to over take them.

**TBC…**


	12. Chapter 12

Lois shut her eyes tight as the sun glared into her apartment. When she was unable to find relief she rolled over and pulled the silky soft sheets over her head and sighed slightly as she began to drift back to sleep.

Then with a jolt the memories flooded back and her eyes shot open as she sat up quickly, covering herself with the sheet. She used her free hand to massage her head as she got a headache from sitting up so fast. As it subsided she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings.

She was not in her apartment, in fact she was in Kal's bedroom, alone, and stark naked.

Normally she would have used the time alone to do some snooping, but she was too lost in her own head to do anything but sit there in a slight state of shock. She had just had sex with Kal.

The memories of the night before began to play over and over again in her head. Where had it gone wrong? When had she lost control? Why did it feel so right with a man she hardly knew? How did he get so damn good? She shook herself out of that thought line and back to the problem at hand.

Last night had been a mistake, she had a boyfriend. In fact she had a great boyfriend, admittedly their relationship had been a little distant lately but that didn't mean he deserved this. She put her head in her hands as the guilt flooded her. She had never done anything like this, and to think she had done it to Bruce, it tore her up inside. She may not have been in love with him, but she did love him.

On top of that she barely knew Kal. Sure she probably knew him better than anyone else but that really wasn't saying much. Especially considering he was potentially a very big name in Intergang, an organization she had sworn to take down.

Her headache returned as she suddenly stood up and began to search for her clothing, her head was a mess and she had to get out of here, as long as she was in his apartment she wouldn't be able to think clearly.

The first piece of clothing she found was her underwear, but she shook her head when she remembered that the only article of clothing that had been taken off of her in one piece were her jeans. She slid them on and made her way to the nearest set of drawers and opened them hoping to find a top she could wear. She silently thanked those above for allowing the first one she choose to be holding black t-shirts. "Does this guy own anything's that not black?" She mumbled it under her breath and was surprised when she received an answer.

" Well I don't always wear black, just when I'm doing business. Seeing as you mostly seem me at the club, I'm always in black." Lois jumped as she turned around to see Kal leaning against the doorway.

Lois took in his appearance; he was wearing black pajama bottoms and a grey undershirt. One of the questions she had, but hadn't had the clarity to ask herself suddenly jumped to the forefront of her mind. " Where have you been?" She briefly noted to herself that it was definitely a sign of the situation she was in, that the guy not being there when she woke up was low on her list of problems.

He gestured down to a table at his side that she hadn't noticed until now and was surprised to find a very tempting looking breakfast. " You made me breakfast." Who was this guy? She shook her head a little bit, realizing that she needed to get out of here and fast, but was aware enough to know that she needed to do it without raising his suspicions.

" Thanks you know, for that." She gestured towards the breakfast plate. " But I need to get back home, " She slid past him and started walking backwards towards the door hoping she didn't look as freaked as she felt. " My sister's probably freaking out and if I don't get back soon she might call the cops." In response Kal had only turned towards her and smirked a little. " But I'll see you soon." She gave what she knew would appear to be the forced smile it was as she finally made it out the door.

She was relieved to find the bodyguards were not at either part of the elevator as she made her way down and then proceeded outside of the hotel. She hailed a cab and was relieved when it stopped for her. She gave him directions and fell back against her seat as her mind continued to race. She had been hoping that her mind would clear when she put some distance between herself and the penthouse, but found that instead of helping, it simply allowed what she had done sink in.

* * *

Kal watched as Lois walked away and shook his head as the door closed. He had to admit that he was in a mild state of shock. Not near to the point that Lois obviously was, but surprised none the less.

He picked up the breakfast he had intended for Lois and made his way to the balcony where he sat on the lounge enjoying the view. He would be lying if he said that he regretted last night at all. Admittedly he would have preferred Lois's reaction been a little bit better, but he also understood her freaking out.

Things had progressed much more quickly than either of them could have anticipated. On the one hand when he had gotten Lois to come back to his place he had intended for something to happen, but he never could have expected her to let it go as far as she did.

He smiled a little bit knowing that at the very least she would now have to face her feelings for him. Up until last night she could have played off everything between them as just her cover story, but not anymore, he would have to be a little patient, but eventually she would come to talk to him. The hard part would be convincing her to stay. Last night may have forced her to confront her feelings, but it would also make her think about the precarious situation she was in.

It would be a rare occasion in which Lois might willingly admit that she was in over her head. That meant if she was to follow the path she would back in Smallville, she would first stew over the problem for a while. Then she'd talk to someone she trusted, most likely Chloe. Then she'd deal with what she felt was the most important issue. In this case that meant she would probably go to Bruce and tell him what happened. Once she had gone through all of that Kal knew she might come back and talk to him and that wasn't good.

There was no way that she would still think being undercover after what had happened last night would be a good idea. Especially after she spoke to Bruce. Odds were that even after she confessed to cheating on him, Bruce would ask her to stop going undercover for her safety. After all he probably loved her and wouldn't want to see her hurt. Then out of guilt she might actually agree and Kal might never see her again.

Sure he could probably pull a few strings and arrange it so that she had no one to go to but himself, but he didn't think it was the best idea she already had to be overwhelmed doing something to push her further would be a bad decision. All he could do now was hope that her journalist side won over and made Lois commit to finishing the story out. If not he would have to resort to drastic measures to keep her in his life, and that was something no one would want.

* * *

Lois continued to drive not knowing quite where she was going. It had gotten dark a while ago and yet she didn't feel tired. Once she had gotten her car she had just started driving, only stopping to quickly call Chloe and tell her that she was okay. Chloe had not been happy with the short call but Lois knew she would have to deal with that later.

By now she was far outside the city and could see nothing but fields in every direction. Her mind still held its questions but had quieted down since this morning. She knew that what she had to do now was figure out her next move. The problem was that she had no idea where to begin.

She slowed to a stop and looked out the window. The scene before her caused her to smile slightly; it had been a long time since she had been here. She turned the car into the gravel road and began to slowly make her way through the farm.

She only came back to the Kent farm when things got really bad. In fact the last time she had come here, had been when the army had reported that her father had gone missing. He was found a few days later but it had still scared her. Martha was the closest thing to a parent she had, and when things got bad she was the one who always new what to say.

She pulled the car to a stop and stepped out of the car before taking a deep breath. She made her way to the front door of the house where she knocked on it lightly. Something that years ago she would have considered really weird.

The door opened and Lois was met with the eyes of Martha Kent. She looked pretty much the same but there were some noticeable differences. She had more grey hair and looked more worn down than she once was, and most of all their was something missing on her face. Ever since the day of the event Martha had never been the same. The warmth still radiated off of her, but the look in her eyes had never been the same. It was as if something was missing.

She had kept her job in congress and still fought for worthy causes, but Lois knew that to her it was still as if going through the motions. Martha smiled as she spoke, " Lois, it's nice to see you."

" Hi Senator Kent." They paused in the awkward silence for a moment before embracing each other in a hug.

" It's been way to long." Just hearing her voice was still comforting.

Lois smiled into the embrace as she replied, " Yea it has." She stepped out of the hug as Martha led her into the house and sat down at the kitchen table.

" I'm sorry I don't have much to eat, I wasn't expecting company." Martha smiled as she looked over Lois. She may have been blonde but she would have recognized the girl anywhere.

" No, it's fine you don't have to feed me every time we see each other." Both women smiled for a second before the awkward silence set in.

" You know Lois the last time you were here your dad had gone missing, did something happen to him?" Martha's face took on that of the face that every mother gets when she senses something is wrong with her child.

" No, no it's just that I….I….made a huge mistake." Lois sighed and leaned back in her chair.

Martha reached out her hand and took Lois's in her. " Sweetie, what ever you did I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

Lois looked up at Martha and shook his her head slightly. " I wish that were true." Lois rattled off the entire story, from her brilliant idea to go undercover at the club in order to take down Intergang. To sleeping with her boss, who she knew very little about.

" Wow." Martha paused for a second, before continuing. " Well what do you plan on doing?"

Lois couldn't believe that Martha had gotten that question out without an ounce of judgment in her voice.

" I don't know I mean, What do tell Bruce? Do I tell Chloe? Do I stay undercover as Lanie? Or do I just go back to the planet? If I don go back to the Planet how am I supposed to face Perry without a story even though I've been undercover as a stripper for months. O yea and that doesn't even tackle the issue of what to do about the guy that I slept with." Lois rested her head in her hands as she held back tears.

" I can't tell you what to do. But I will say this." Lois looked up to see Martha with a serious yet caring face on.

" You have to tell Bruce. I can't tell you what to do about the man you slept with, and I can't tell you whether or not you should stay undercover. But Bruce, he deserves to know. I know that you care about him, and I know you. If you don't tell Bruce you'll hate yourself. It may be hard, but you know that he deserves to know." Martha sat back and took a sip of water.

Lois nodded her head; it wasn't anything huge or even something she couldn't have figured out herself. But hearing it come form Martha Kent made it sound so much better. It wasn't going to be easy, and it would probably hurt Bruce deeply, but it would hurt him worse if he found out some other way. Or from her years from now.

She was broken out of her reverie by Martha's voice. " Now it's late, and I know that you needed to talk about this, and that's fine. But don't think that you get to come all the way out here and not tell me about everything that I've missed since I've seen you last." Both women smiled for a moment before Martha continued. " While I'd love to hear it all now, it's late so you're just going to have to tell me in the morning."

" Look Mrs. K….." Lois put her hands in front of her.

" No buts Lois, its late and I haven't seen you in I don't know how long. So you're going to sleep here, either where you used to or on the couch. Your choice." Martha gave her a look that said that there was no room for argument.

Lois sighed and thought about her options for a moment. She looked at the staircase for a moment before deciding that the couch was more preferable than his old room.

" I'll just stay on the couch." Martha nodded in understanding as she went off to get a pillow and blanket.

Lois walked into the living room and made her way to the couch. She sat down and looked around at the familiar living room. As her eyes gazed around noting that very little had changed she fell upon a picture that she hadn't seen in years. It was Chloe and herself on either side of Clark as they posed in front of the Christmas tree.

It had been taken the Christmas before he had been in the accident, it was a rare occasion in which the three of them had been together and smiling, not dealing with the freak of the week; and neither woman dealing with a story he would inevitably become involved in. She smirked as the tears started to well up in her eyes; she could practically envision his reaction to the situation. First he would be all judgmental and ask how she could let something like this would happen. After that they would yell at each other for a little while, that would be followed by an awkward pause. Finally he would be supportive and say something that actually made sense. Of course she'd never tell him that, but that was just the way things worked.

A single tear fell down her face, as she was startled out of her memories by Martha sitting down beside her with blanket and pillow in tow. " Seems like a lifetime ago doesn't it?"

Lois nodded her head as she wiped the tear form her eye. " Yea it does."

They sat there in the silence for a while before Martha patted Lois on the knee as she stood up. " I'll see you in the morning Lois."

" Good night Mrs. Kent." Martha made her way up the stairs as Lois set the picture down on the table by the couch

She laid her head down on the pillow as she stretched out on the couch, earlier today she would have thought finding sleep tonight would be impossible, but there was something about being home that always made sleep come easy.

" _Oh my god, Ollie help me!" She smashed her phone against the garbage can causing it to brake._

" _Good one Lois." She spoke to herself as she made her way down the alley. She stopped as a group of men unexpectedly appeared from the shadows, quickly surrounding her._

"_Need some help?" The man who appeared to be in charge spoke up, clearly amused to find her in a helpless state._

_Jimmy jumped out of no where and tackled one of the men in front of her as she swung her bag of ice into one of the men behind her. _

" _You didn't tell me their were going to be real thugs." Jimmy was clearly scared as he spoke to Lois._

" _Well they kind of made an impromptu appearance." Lois fired right back but was cut short as a man grabbed her from behind. As Jimmy tried to help her two men grabbed him and pulled him away._

_Then from down the alley the Green Arrow fell from the sky and landed on the dumpster, " Let her go." _

_When the men made no move to let her go the Green Arrow jumped from his post and down to the ground. He grabbed the man holding Lois and tossed him across the alley and into a billboard as Lois rolled to the ground._

_She smiled at her savior as he knocked an arrow in his quiver and turned to the men who were still fighting Jimmy. When they saw was aimed at them they took off as fast as they could._

_Green Arrow put away his bow and helped Lois up. Still smiling she came to within a few feet of him and spoke. " Your secrets safe with me Oliver." With that Lois pulled herself into the Green Arrow and grasped his arms as she kissed him. The kiss lasted longer than she intended, or at leas long enough for her to realize that she wasn't kissing Oliver. Whoever it was he felt warm and familiar, and was kissing her with a passion that made her weak in the knees._

_She stepped back and took a deep breath knowing that when she opened her eyes the Green Arrow would be smirking and Ollie would be standing behind her wondering why she was kissing another guy. _

_But once she did, the only man she saw smirking was Kal…_

With that Lois's eyes shot open as she sat up on the couch as she clutched her hand to her chest just trying to calm her breathing.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13: Wrong and Right**_

Lois was stopped at what she believed to be the longest light in the entire city. She tapped her left foot up and down trying to will the light to change. She had stayed at the Kent farm just long enough to promise Martha that once things died down she would come back and have a real visit. She felt bad about leaving before they had gotten a real chance to talk but she had two important conversations she needed to have before the next time that she saw Kal.

She turned down a narrow street and continued on her way constantly telling herself that she was doing the right thing. The first talk she needed to have was with Bruce. It wouldn't be pleasant, and she didn't know how he was going to react but it needed to be done.

Lois silently tried to remember all of the times she had done something bad enough to make Bruce truly angry. There had been the time she had been wandering around the batcave and had accidentally triggered one of his more aggressive training programs. There had also been the incident at that embassy in Russia but that hadn't been her fault. She shook herself out of her thoughts and back to the topic at hand. In the those Scenarios he had reacted well, while he was angry he had simply asked that she leave him alone for a while before he calmed down enough for them to have a rational conversation. During that conversation he would tell her why he was mad, she would apologize and they would move on as if nothing had happened. Somehow she saw this conversation going a little bit differently.

She parked in front of Ollie's apartment knowing that since it was the middle of the day, Bruce would be there conducting business. She knew that he had been working to break open Intergang so she could stop, but she also knew he had gotten nowhere. That meant that there was no way he was in Gotham.

She walked into the building and punched in the code that called for the elevator. She took it upstairs inhaling deeply as the elevator slowed to a stop. The doors opened and she stepped into the clock tower apartment that had changed drastically since she had first been here. While once it had been only two floors it now incorporated four, and had matured with its owner. You could also see Chloe's influence over the decoration.

Lois made her way through the main room, downstairs and into one of the guestrooms where she found Bruce on his cell phone speaking to one of his many accountants. He turned around and stopped mid speech when his eyes fell on a clearly rattled Lois wearing an outfit that he knew she normally wouldn't have been caught dead in.

Lois watched as Bruce cut his conversation short and was for whatever reason was surprised to hear his voice. " Lois." He walked over to her and embraced her in a hug. " God it's good to see you."

She had to admit that she agreed it had been weeks since they had seen each other and it was nice to be in the presence of someone she normally spent time with. " Yea it is."

He stepped back and looked her up and down and smirked before speaking. " Before we do or say anything I have to ask where you got that outfit from."

Lois looked down and remembered that while she was wearing her own jeans, she was also wearing one of the few plaid shirts of Clark's Martha couldn't bring herself to give away. Lois thought that it would have been cruel to wear Kal's shirt to her conversation with Bruce and had the foresight to change before leaving this morning.

" I stayed at the Kent Farm last night and this is the shirt that the senator gave me." Bruce became serious, as far as he knew Lois still didn't talk about the Kents. Ollie had explained the circumstances of Clark Kent's death and Bruce understood, which was why he knew something important had happened.

" The Kent Farm. Why did you stay there? Wouldn't that jeopardize your being undercover?" Normally he would have been right, but seeing as how she had made sure no one was tailing her she didn't think it was a problem.

" I…I needed to talk to Martha about some stuff." Not the best start but no one said this conversation was going to be easy.

" What stuff?" He put his hands in his pockets and quirked an eyebrow at her, he knew that if she couldn't have come to him or Chloe it wasn't going to be good news.

" I….I did something," She sighed knowing she could only prolong this for so long. " Something bad."

Lois walked behind the desk in the large room unconsciously putting distance between herself and Bruce.

He turned to face her as he asked the next question knowing that if Lois Lane was having trouble saying it that she had really screwed up. He could only hope she hadn't put herself or others in danger. " How bad?"

Lois looked up and Bruce could see the trepidation clearly in her eyes, when she spoke she said the last thing he expected to hear. " I slept with Kal."

Bruce went slack jawed for a moment as the words sunk in. Lois watched him try to form words before he half sat half fell into the chair beside him. She remained quiet. For once not wanting to break the silence.

Bruce was looking down at the desk and could only see part of her body. It was almost impossible to believe. Not only had Lois cheated on him but she had done it with a man that she was investigating as a possible higher up in Intergang. His mind tried to reach rational reasons or ways in which it could have happened, but found that he couldn't. During the months apart he had been constantly worried about losing her but not this way. After a long while he finally managed to look her in the face. " How?…"

He let the question trail off and Lois took her cue to answer. " We were playing pool and I lost a bet, I thought it was a sure thing but he hustled me. The deal was I had to go back to his place with him, I didn't have to do anything I just had to go." Lois knew she was rambling but she couldn't stop herself. " We got there and we started talking and…and I had a little bit to drink and…"

" Stop it." It was an order and yet it came out as a plea. Bruce stood up and shook his head. " We both know that it takes a hell of a lot of alcohol to effect your judgment. You also know that you probably could have left any time you want."

Lois could feel tears stinging the back of her eyes but held them in as he continued,

" I…I" Bruce stopped and sighed before schooling his features into the mask he normally reserved for complete strangers. " I'm going to go, you can tell Ollie whatever you want."

He was almost out the door when Lois managed to ask a question. " Where are you going?"

He didn't bother to look back as he answered, " I don't know, but not here." With that he left the room Lois closed her eyes. Bruce's message was clear he wouldn't be there to help her if she got in over her head.

Ollie dropped down onto his balcony and looked around to make sure that there were no prying eyes. When he found none her pulled his hood back and walked inside. Months of investigating by himself Bruce, Lois, and Chloe and they had nothing. To top it off the only thing he was sure about, was that Intergang was more powerful than when this whole mess had started.

As he made it into the living room he was surprised to find Lois sitting on his couch clearly lost in thought. He quirked an eyebrow at the shirt he hadn't seen anyone wear for years. " It's been a long time since I've seen anyone in plaid."

Lois looked up at him clearly surprised by his presence; it didn't take her long to regain her composure. " Same, but it's what I have." She didn't want to talk to Ollie about what had transpired today and needed to make sure she came off as her usual self.

Ollie opened the secret passage behind the clock face and stepped inside where he changed into his usual clothing. He stepped outside and closed the door and turned his attention back to Lois. " Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here? It's not exactly like you to jeopardize an investigation."

She nodded as she made her way across the room to stand opposite the desk from Ollie. She crossed her arms over her chest. " Actually I'm here to help my investigation."

Ollie gave her a skeptical look as he responded, " Uhhh Lois, if I knew anything I already would have told you or Chloe."

She nodded her head and Ollie quirked an eyebrow at her. It had been a long time since he had been on the receiving end of one of her interrogations and he found she could still make him feel very small when she wanted to.

" Do you remember when we were going out and I figured out that you were the Green Arrow?" Ollie nodded his head, this was definitely not the line of questioning he had been expecting. He was thinking it would be along the lines of, ' I saw you spying at the club, I thought I told you me and Chloe had that handled.'

" Yea I do, why?" Ollie saw Lois become more serious and began to become intrigued himself.

Lois didn't see a way around answering the question honestly and decided just to put her theory out there. " I figured out that whoever was posing as the Green Arrow for you that night is Kal."

Ollie froze at her words. She had said Kal so she didn't know who it was, but she seemed so sure. He shook his head in response, " That's not possible."

" Ollie I've been spending a lot of time with the guy, don't you think a reporter like me could figure it out." Lois was hoping that would be enough to justify her logic but she somehow knew better.

" Lois, that's not the reason it's not possible. It's not possible because the man who was in the suit is….not in Metropolis." It wasn't a lie, Ollie felt guilty but he hadn't ever betrayed Clark's secret and he wasn't about to start now.

Lois sighed frustrated, " Look Ollie I know it's him alright, you don't forget a kiss like that." It was Lois's turn to freeze at Ollie's look. It was a testament to the last few days that she had let that slip.

" You mean you kissed this guy Kal." Ollie couldn't believe Lois would cheat on Bruce but the look in her eyes told him it was true. He was about to respond when Lois cut him off.

" Look before you say anything I feel bad enough as it is and don't need a lecture. Yes I've already spoken to Bruce about it and you'll notice he's not here anymore. I don't know where he is and like I said I feel awful, so please just stick to the topic at hand. I know that Kal is the man who was in your costume and the only question I have is how that's possible." If this conversation were about anything else he would have given her that lecture she didn't want but something told him the one she wanted to have was more important.

He took a moment to compose himself and choose his words carefully. " Lois I need you to listen to me. No matter what you think you know, Kal isn't the guy who posed as the Green Arrow for me." She was about to interrupt but he cut her off. " You may be pretty sure but I know for a fact that that isn't possible. Okay."

Normally Lois would have fought but not this time. She wasn't sure if it was because of the past few days events or if it was because of the look in Ollie's eyes that told her he knew what he was talking about but she decided not to push it. That didn't mean she had given up her theory, only that she would give Ollie a few days to process the information he had just been given. " Fine Ollie, I believe you."

She made her way towards the elevator but was stopped by Ollie's voice. " Lois do me a favor and don't tell Chloe or anyone else about this for that matter."

Lois turned around and quirked an eyebrow at him " Why not?" This was definitely an interesting turn of events.

" The man you're accusing of being apart of Intergang happens to be a man I have the utmost respect for. In fact a lot of people do, I don't want you to tarnish that without having anything more than a hunch." She could practically feel the truth in his words and decided not to mention her theory to anyone. Not until she had absolute proof.

"Okay I won't, at least not without talking to you about it first." With that she made her way to the elevator and left the apartment relieved that the hard conversations were over. Normally she would be dreading facing Kal, but after the day she had just had she was surprisingly un-worried.

Ollie watched Lois exit and couldn't help but stair at the elevator doors transfixed as he was deep in thought. His mind was racing, and in a jumble every clue he seemingly never took the time to notice suddenly came shining through to the surface. The man at the bank, Clark's body never being found, Intergang's inexplicable power increase even after the hit it had taken months ago. Even Lois kissing "Kal", it all fit.

But it wasn't possible, after all Clark was dead. That was a fact, six years and not a trace of him had been found. Ollie had been to the funeral himself for god sakes.

He shook his head trying to get over his own barriers, but what if it?. That meant… His mind once again raced at the implications, if Clark were Kal then there was no way he hadn't recognized Lois and Chloe. The girls not recognizing him was actually understandable, after all he was dead. But then again, If he knew who they were then he would know that they were the reporters who were investigating Intergang. Why would he allow them to investigate?

Clark had quite possibly been the most powerful man he had ever met, he wouldn't be some grunt in any organization. In fact he would be one of a very small amount of people who could possibly bring an organization as massive as Intergang under his control and maintain an iron grip on it. In a twisted way it would even explain why the man at the bank had spared his life.

And yet he shook his had again. Clark was dead and Ollie had said himself that he wasn't the only one on the planet with that kind of strength. He stood there a long time going back and forth with himself, it seemed like the idea was impossible and yet he couldn't let it go.

After what could have been minutes or hours Ollie wasn't sure, he made his way back into the chamber behind the clock. He placed his hand on a fingerprint scanner discreetly placed behind a costume that he never wore. On the other side of the room a panel slid open revealing a three buttons. Ollie pressed the last one and sighed, it would bring every member of the league to this very building in 48 hours or less.

As the panel closed he opened up one of his drawers and punched in a code on a number pad that unlocked his rarest arrows. He picked up one of three arrows that he had himself made years ago. He then pushed the drawer with the other two closed as he stood up and stepped back into the main room. He tried to calm his mind knowing that this was something he had to do, but their was one question he could not push from his head. Would it be worse if Lois were wrong, or if she were right?

**TBC…**


	14. Chapter 14: Part 1

_**Chapter 14**_

_**Part One: Complicated Conversations**_

Lois climbed her way up the staircase towards "Lanie's" apartment. It was around noon and yet she still wasn't completely awake. She had slept in her actual apartment hoping for some sense of normalcy but it had not been the best nights sleep as her mind had been racing; her first thoughts had been of Bruce. She had replayed the conversation in her head a few times and had come to the conclusion that although the words hadn't been spoken, they were in fact over. Seeing as this wasn't the most pleasant thought she had moved her mind off of the topic.

Her next thoughts were of course of Kal. Or more specifically the man who had posed as the Green Arrow. If Kal had in fact been the Green Arrow that night then it just added to the enigma that was Kal. It mean that at one point or another he had not only been a hero but a man Ollie had trusted enough to let in on his secret. Ollie had said that it was impossible for the two men to be the same, but Lois had seen the doubt.

It was strange really, Kal was the most complex and mysterious man Lois had ever known, and that was saying something. There wasn't much proof to go on but her journalist's instinct told her beyond a doubt that Kal was high up in the Intergang tree. Yet at the same time he may well have once fought the very thing he had become. So what could have changed him so dramatically?

She shook her head, whatever he was now had apparently been good enough for her. She still had no idea how she had wound up sleeping with him but she did know that she couldn't have honestly blamed the alcohol completely. She sighed as she mad it to her floor and began down the hallway. There was just something about him that she was drawn to. She didn't know if it was his mystery, his charm, or even how he constantly through her for a loop but she just seemed to get lost in the moment whenever she was around him. There was some sort of connection between herself and Kal and she couldn't have explained it if she tried.

As she made it to her door and put her key in the lock she shook her head again. It was at this point in her thoughts that she would feel guilty for Kal dominating her thoughts the day after her breakup with Bruce. Go through this thought process a few times and that would describe Lois's night.

She opened the door and walked in after locking it behind her. She was disappointed to find that Chloe had gone to "work" and made her way into the kitchen and fixed herself top ramen noodles, enjoying the simplicity of the meal. As she took her last sip she heard a knock at the door and quirked an eyebrow as she made her way towards it.

She swung it open and was stunned to find Kal standing on the other side. " Kal, what are you doing here?"

He smirked, " Well to be honest I came to see you."

They stood there as the awkward silence fell over them. Lois was definitely unprepared for this and couldn't fathom what exactly he was doing here. She was broken out of her reverie by Kal's voice. " Do you mind if I come in?"

" Uhhh sure." Kal walked in and seemed to survey the apartment, " Do you mind me asking how you found out where I live."

He turned around to face her and smirked. " I have my ways, but I think the better question is why you didn't show up for work today?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, she wasn't a fan of being cornered in her own place. " I had things to do, since when was it a crime to miss a day of work."

She watched Kal give her an incredulous look as he continued. " You've worked at the club for months now and I got a little bit worried as it was the first day you missed."

" A simple phone call probably would have been enough to find out how I was." Lois had decided to latch on to the little bit of anger at him for ambushing her as not to do or say something that would add to her confusion.

" Maybe but…" Kal stopped and sighed; he knew that the only way to keep her from getting angry was by being sincere. " You know what, the truth is that I was worried that you didn't want to see me."

Lois quirked an eyebrow at him intrigued, it was a surprisingly honest answer and she hadn't expected him to drop the charade so quickly. " If I didn't want to see you, do you really think ambushing me was the right decision."

She was surprised to see him smile as he answered, " Maybe not, but what was I supposed to do?"

" You could have waited until tomorrow when I'm scheduled to work." She knew that it had been a flimsy argument but hopefully he wouldn't pick up on that.

" I couldn't know that you'd be there." He smirked knowing he had her.

" You know some guys would have taken that as a signal." She tried to put all of the confidence she could into hr voice

He took a couple of steps closer to her as he spoke. " Well then I guess it's lucky that I'm not most guys."

She couldn't help but smirk a little bit, there weren't many guys who could keep up with her verbal banter and none better than him. " Lucky for who?" She almost couldn't believe that she was actually joking around with this guy instead of having the insanely awkward conversation she had been anticipating.

He suddenly became serious and stepped to within a foot of her. He knew that this was his one and only chance to convince her not to run away. He couldn't know for sure if that had been her plan, but when Lois had skipped her shift at the club he knew he needed to do something to convince her not to leave his life. " Look, I know that the night we spent together was unexpected."

She would have laughed a little bit at his word choice if he hadn't been so close. She had been comfortable in their lighthearted banter and his new serious demeanor was not what she had been anticipating.

" But I need you to know that I don't regret it at all." She stepped backwards towards the door but he simply followed. " And I know that we may not know a lot about each other, but I do know one thing and it's that I'm drawn to you and I can't really explain why."

Well she could definitely relate to that feeling, but he was standing way to close and every time she stepped back he simply followed. It made it kind of hard to think straight.

" All I ask is that you give me a chance." Her back hit the door as he finished. He was only a foot away and she wasn't quite sure what to do. In the end talking seemed like her best option.

" A chance to what?" She looked into his eyes and was surprised to find nothing but sincerity written in across his features.

" I guess I should have said give us a chance." Kal hadn't come in here expecting to be quite as forward as he had been, but it was to late to turn back now.

" O" It came out as little more than a whisper before Kal's lips descended on hers. It was a familiar kiss and yet brand new all the same. Her mind was completely blank as his lips massaged hers. Instead of heating up as it had a few nights ago he slowed and tenderly kissed her a few more times before pulling away. " Take as long as you need."

With that Lois somehow managed to move out of the way as Kal made his way out the door. When he had come to her place he had intended only to feel her out. Try to make sure she was comfortable enough around himself to come back to the club, not to ask her to give them a chance but once again he quickly decided to embrace it. He wanted Lois and there was no way to do that without making her aware of that fact. He could only hope that it would push her closer to him, rather than farther away.

Back in her apartment Lois had slid down to the floor with her back against the doorway. He wanted a relationship. Holy Crap! She shook her head, this morning she wouldn't have thought it possible, but her life had somehow become more complicated.

The next day…

Ollie was upstairs in his apartment looking down at the men and women gathered on the floor below. It had been the first time he had ever used one of the emergency call buttons for the league and he knew that the league believed it to be a drill. Luckily for him every member had showed, even Bruce although he was leaning against a wall in the corner clearly in a bad mood.

He made his way down the staircase and walked to his desk where he pressed a combination of buttons on his keyboard and allowing two large monitors to descend. The soft humming of voices died down as they focused on Ollie.

" Dude this better not be a drill because I was really enjoying my vacation." Ollie smirked at Bart who was leaning against a couch.

" Relax man, even if it is you'll be back on vacation before the sun comes up." Viktor patted Bart on the shoulder and the group returned their attention to Ollie.

He crossed his arms over his chest and spoke. " I'm not going to sugar coat this, this meeting isn't a drill. While the best case scenario is that I over reacted and called all of you here on a faulty assumption, the worst case scenario is that we're going to have to fight the most powerful person I've ever met."

" Bro, why would we have to fight Diana?" A.C. and the others turned towards Diana. She was as graceful as ever as she stood there, not showing any offense at the remark nor seeming uncomfortable with the attention directed on her.

" I didn't mean Diana." There was a long pause as seven pairs of eyes all found their way back to Ollie. He could see the confusion written on the faces of the three women who had never met him, and the gears turning in the heads of those who had.

It was Viktor who spoke first, " The only person I know of who meets that description is Clark, and we both know that it can't be him."

Ollie sighed and shook his head not wanting to have this argument with himself or anyone else again. " I said that at first too but look at the facts." He pressed a button on his computer and the only picture of Clark he had appeared on the screen. He was in a flannel shirt and jeans and was smiling at the camera as he had one armed wrapped around Lois and the other around Chloe.

" The target is Clark Kent . Kal. He's got the strength of Diana, and the speed of Bart. He can also shoot fire from his eyes and is literally invulnerable. If we're lucky I'm wrong and this guy is just someone who happens to be stronger and faster than most. But either way I believe that this guy is the leader of Intergang and that means we have to take him down quickly. " Ollie paused and wasn't surprised to hear Bart's voice first.

" Ummm Ollie, Clark's dead." It sounded mean somehow, but Bart didn't know how else to say it.

" Look I know how this sounds but I need you to trust me. I could explain how I came to this conclusion but the fact is, the sooner we do this the better and even if I am wrong this is definitely a situation of better safe than sorry." A.C., Viktor, and Bart all shared the same disbelieving looks before Viktor spoke up.

" Look I trust you man, but your not asking us to do something simple. You're asking us to believe a man whose funeral I was at, is actually alive. Beyond that you're accusing a guy who was as close to a saint as they come, of heading a criminal organization." It was just too farfetched for any of the group to accept it.

Barbara raised her hand as she spoke. " Can we pretend that not all of us have met this Clark guy and have someone explain to us what's going on."

There was a pause as the men in the room who did know Clark exchanged looks. Ollie looked at Bruce who looked calm enough, but after knowing him as long as he had Ollie knew that he was looking forward to going after Kal. He turned to Barbara as he spoke. " You could say that Clark Kent was part of the league before we were the league. He helped us out and actually at one time or another worked with me, Bart, A.C., and Viktor before we joined forces."

Dinah spoke up this time, " So why are you two's girlfriends in the picture with him,"

Ollie saw Bruce's jaw subtly tighten but simply answered Dina's question instead. He sighed before actually speaking, " Clark was Chloe's best friend for years and as you know Lois is her cousin. They were all pretty good friends for a few years."

She nodded in response and was about to ask another question knowing that Ollie was holding something back, but Diana cut her off. " You said he had abilities beyond that of mortals. How did he come by them?"

Ollie sighed again before answering. " We don't actually know, there are only two people that I know of who have the answer to that question and they won't tell anyone."

Barbara nodded her head, " So what you're saying is that you think one of your old friends is now the leader of the criminal underworld."

Ollie nodded his head but Bart broke in shaking his head, " No, I knew him man. Clark was the best guy I know. Assuming for a second he actually is alive there's no way in hell that he's a criminal."

Ollie knew what was going on in Bart's head. No matter how cocky he was he had always idolized Clark a little bit. To think head gone down this path would be harder on him than anyone else in the room. True Ollie didn't like the idea at all, but on some level until he knew for a fact it was Clark, the shock probably wouldn't set in.

Ollie was about to comment but Bruce came from behind and put a hand on his shoulder. " Look Bart, it doesn't really matter if this Kal guy is Clark or not. Ollie there's plenty of proof to say Kal is at least connected to Intergang. The man we fought at the bank had abilities beyond that of the average person. So even if it's someone else completely, we should go at this together and in full force; And we should do it soon."

Bart was quiet for a moment before nodding his head. Ollie looked around to see that the league seemed to agree. " Okay then, let's get to work."


	15. Chapter 14: Part 2

_**Part Two: Clash of the Titans**_

The Green Arrow and Batman stood atop a thirty-story building that stood a few blocks away from the Elysian Fields. Ollie wasn't quite sure what time it was, but judging by the darkness he would have guessed about 3 or 4 in the morning.

Bruce took a look around the city before turning to Ollie. " I thought we were supposed to meet the rest of the team on the roof of the Edge building across the way from the club. Why did you have us come here first?"

Ollie turned his head from the view to look at his friend. " I wanted to make sure that you were okay to join us on this mission."

Bruce narrowed his eyes, " From the way you described this guy, I was under the impression that you needed all the help you could get."

Ollie nodded his head solemnly, " I can, but if you're heads going to be focusing on settling a score then you're more likely to get yourself hurt than help."

Ollie could see Bruce's jaw tighten as he looked away. " Bruce, the way I figured out that it could be Clark was because Lois thought it was." Bruce's head turned in surprise but Ollie cut him off. " She doesn't know it's him, she just knows it was a man I once had cover for myself as the Green Arrow."

Bruce shook his head a little, " I don't suppose I even want to know how she knew that exactly."

" Probably not…Look I'm sorry we haven't had time to talk this out the right way but we need to get back to the task at hand. Are you going to be able to put your personal feelings aside." They both knew he had a good idea but Ollie knew better than to open up that door at a time like this.

Ollie and Bruce stared at each other for a long moment before Bruce gave his answer. " I will. I've never let personal issues get in the way of the job before. I won't start now."

Ollie nodded but as Bruce began to make his way off of the roof Ollie grabbed him by the arm. Giving him the most serious look he could, " If this is Clark I have a way of stopping him. But I need to know that you'll treat him like you would a normal criminal and not like the guy that…well I think you get the idea."

Bruce paused slightly longer than Ollie was comfortable with, but did finally give his answer. " You have my word."

Ollie and Bruce nodded to each other before heading off to the Edge building. It didn't take long for them to arrive and once they did Ollie took a moment to take in the team. It was rare to have the entire league in the same place at once, not only was it usually overkill but a few members liked to stick close to home.

Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Cyborg, Flash, Aquaman, Black Canary, Batman and the Green Arrow all took a moment to calm their nerves. Ollie liked to call it the calm before the storm. " Okay team let's get in and get it done."

The league silently made its way to the entrance of the club with Ollie at point. When they reached the door Ollie smirked at the door being unlocked. Normally it would have alarmed him, unlocked doors were a little too convenient but tonight they were going into a strip club Of course it was open.

They made their way in and were met with the stunned eyes of dancers, customers, bouncers, and the two bartenders. As guns were drawn Bart sped up and removed the firearms from the hands of their owners. One of the men had been just quick enough to fire a shot in the direction of Barbara before Bart could grab it. Diana simply deflected the shot away receiving a thankful smirk from Barbara.

Ollie strung his bow and aimed it at the nearest bouncer. " Where's your boss?"

The man's eyes bounced from member to member as the entirety of the justice league stared him down. He was clearly scared, as was every other person in the club. He was about to speak but was cut off by a voice from across the room.

" You know it's not nice to point." Ollie looked up to see a man in a black suit standing across the room. He had jet-black hair with a beard and goatee to match, but the most disturbing thing was how calm and confidant he was even facing down the entire league.

As the man continued Ollie instinctually pointed his bow and arrow towards him. " Especially since all you had to do was ask someone to get me."

Ollie was about to speak but was cut off by Bruce's voice. He glanced over to see that Bruce had stepped slightly in front of the rest of the league. " So you're Kal."

" Wow you really are one hell of a detective." Kal let out a slight laugh before turning to one of the men behind the bar. " Deacon take everyone and get them out the back door."

" Boss I don't think…"

" Deacon they won't stop you, they're obviously here for me and their not going to risk hurting innocent bystanders in the process." Kal nodded his head towards the back and that was all it took for him to follow the instructions.

Ollie watched the people file out of the room; the rest of the league began to spread out in a semi-circle type shape to surround Kal as much as they could. They couldn't cut him off from the back office but Ollie had a feeling that he wasn't going to be running away.

When Deacon had finally exited Kal turned his full attention back to Ollie not giving away any reaction to the now spread out league. " Now if you don't mind me asking, I'd like to know why exactly the Green Arrow is after me."

" I think you know the answer to that question." Ollie couldn't keep the slight bit of distaste that edged into the last word.

" All I know is that you came into my club and threatened my employees and now you're threatening me." Kal nodded towards the bow and arrow.

Ollie heard Dinah scoff a little bit before he spoke, " Well it probably has something to do with you robbing the Federal Reserve bank."

" Well Mr. Queen I don't know what you're talking about, but I'd suggest you turn around and pretend this never happened." Ollie could see the slight reactions from all the members of the league. Sure they all knew that he was probably an old friend but it was always a shock to see someone who was considered an outsider knowing the truth.

" Sorry but I can't do that Kal… or is it Clark." There was a long pause as the two men stared each other down. Neither willing to break, Ollie hoping to see confirmation of the proof, and Kal looking to see how sure he was.

Kal finally broke the stare down to look around the room, letting his eyes linger on every member of the league. As he did so Ollie discreetly replaced the arrow on his bow with the arrowhead made of meteor rock.

Kal finally broke the silence as his eyes landed on both Dinah and Diana, " You know you two forgot the mask portion of your costumes."

Dinah simply shrugged her shoulders as Kal's eyes focused on Diana, " Now you look familiar. Have we met?"

" Not likely little man." Ollie watched as Diana crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke. It wasn't like her to show emotion but he could detect clear dislike in her voice.

From across the room from Diana Viktor decided to speak realizing that Kal was trying to change the subject. " Why don't we get back to the question that Arrow didn't ask, Are you Clark Kent?"

Kal turned his back to Viktor, " I thought the Bat already established that my name was Kal."

From next to Ollie Barbara spoke up, " You didn't actually answer the question."

" Could ya'll pick like a spokesperson so that I can just focus on one of you for the duration of this conversation." Kal turned to Barbara as he spoke.

Ollie pulled a little harder on his bow as he lined the kryptonite arrow up at Kal's chest. " No this conversations over, you're coming with us. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Ollie could sense as the league stiffen, the tension in the room began to increase as Kal's form took on a less relaxed look when he spoke their was an icy tone that hadn't been there before. " Well I think if the movies have taught us anything, it's that no one ever chooses the easy way."

Ollie let the arrow loose not quite sure what was about to happen, and yet what he saw was still unexpected. He watched Kal somehow used his breath to freeze the arrow into a block of ice. He caught the block of ice and then proceeded to throw it straight through the roof of the building.

The entire room looked on slightly in awe, even it a group such as this it was still impressive. Ollie and Kal however were now staring at each other intently. True Ollie had seen super strength a number of times, but if Kal only had strength he would not have had to freeze the arrow before throwing it through the roof. There was only one reason the arrow would have needed to be frozen and there was only one person who was weakened by meteor rocks.

Kal now knew the game was up. Ollie had fired a kryptonite arrow at him and he was forced to act. Surprisingly enough he wasn't upset at the fact that the truth was out, but that could have been because the anger at his old friend trying to kill him was quickly making it difficult to focus on anything other than the situation at hand.

" You know Ollie, I once called you a friend, and because of that I let you and Bruce walk away that day at the bank; but you shooting that arrow at me just cost you and everyone else here all of my good will." Kal slowly turned to look at every member of the league, noting the looks of shock on the4 faces he knew and looks of determination on the looks of those he didn't.

This was normally when either Ollie or Bruce would signal the rest of the team and let them know what the plan of attack was, but this wasn't the normal adversary. In all the years of knowing him neither A.C., Viktor, nor Ollie had ever seen Bart truly angry, but the moment before he sped off they heard a scream of rage and a look of pure anger in his eyes.

Bart sped towards Kal as quickly as he could but he wasn't quite fast enough. Kal was barely able to side step him as he grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. He sent Bart hurtling through the air straight into Diana and both were sent through a wall of the club.

Kal turned in time to see A.C. throw a punch, he side stepped it and with a firm shove sent him flying into Ollie who had been quickly descending upon him. Kal focused his attention on Viktor who dodged a burst of heat vision before landing a punch straight into Kal's chest sending him into the wall of the back building.

Much sooner than Viktor would have liked Kal stood up and brushed some dust off of his sleeves. " Wow I actually felt that, guess it's my turn." Viktor tried to dodge it, but he wasn't quick enough to get himself out of the path of Kal's heat vision. The beam of heat went straight through a hydraulics line in his knee causing him to fall.

Kal was about to make sure Viktor had been taken care of, when a piercing sound brought him to his knees. Seeing Kal's descent on Viktor, Dinah had decided that she needed to take action. She let loose a canary cry that brought everyone but herself in the room to their knees.

Kal's head was pounding as the ear piercing cry seemed to be trying to split his head open. He opened his eyes and found the source of the sound and used all of his will power to focus on the blonde woman. He took a deep breath and with a blast of his super breath smashed her into the wall where she fell unconscious.

He slowly stood up to note that the only one who had recovered was Bruce and he was already walking over to him. Kal took two steps toward him before he was met with a shock. Diana came barreling through the hole in which she had been thrown and sent an upper cut straight into Kal's chin as hard as she could.

He was sent careening though the roof of the club and soaring through the air with Diana flying hot on his tail. Diana sped up intent on ending this fight as quickly as possible. She hadn't gotten a good look but she had seen the rest of the league lying in shambles on the floor of the club. It was definitely time to make this guy pay.

She pulled her fist back to deliver another punch but tumbled through the air slightly when instead of making contact with a hard body she whiffed as Kal dodged the blow and spun to the right.

They turned to face each other hovering high above the city. Diana was stunned; she had seen Amazonians fly before, but never a man. " You can fly.

" And you're Amazonian but I don't see the point in stating the obvious." He crossed his arms over his chest at the look of surprise on her face.

" How could you possibly know that?" No one knew about her home not even the league.

" I was in Greece a little while back and made a wrong turn on my boat and wound up on your island." He paused as he looked her over, " Never thought I'd get to meet the famous Princess Diana thought."

Diana scowled at him slightly, " If you went to Themyscira you would have been killed."

Kal nodded, " O they tried but let's just say I can take a punch or two."

" You could not have harmed my sisters." Diana believed her words but still had an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

" Don't worry they're all fine, but I want you to think about this. If I went to Themyscira and am still here to tell the tale it should be an indicator of what your chances of winning this fight are…Sweet Cheeks." At Kal's last comment and cocky smirk Diana did something uncharacteristic and allowed her anger to take over flying fists first straight at Kal.

He dodged and quickly turned around as she turned to make another pass. He sent a blast of heat vision at her, which she deflected off of her bracelets. Kal took advantage to try and get her from the side but she somersaulted and sent a kick back his way. He spun and grabbed her leg tossing back towards the city.

She flipped her body and willed herself to stop and launched herself back towards Kal. He dodged her and once again allowed her to fly by. He knew that this could go on for awhile. What Diana didn't know was that back on Themyscira the fight had been quick as the women believed him to be an emissary of the gods. After all what other man could posses such gifts.

True he had been able to beat a couple of them in battle, but Diana was clearly more of a match for him than they had been. As he blocked a blow and sent a counter punch before spinning away from a kick something caught his eye.

He could see the faintest of light in the distance and realized that the sun was beginning to rise. As Diana took another swing he once again spun but this time grabbed her arm and turned just enough to be out of range of her other. " Catch me if you can babe."

He sped off towards the sun and looked back just long enough to see Diana hot on his tail. If there was one thing he knew about Amazons it was that they were hot headed, and hated being disrespected and she had done exactly what he had expected.

He could feel the suns rays strengthening him as he sped closer and higher. He pushed himself faster and faster a little impressed that Diana was able to keep up. As he left Earths atmosphere and looked down on the planet below he almost felt bad knowing that while she would probably survive it was not going to be a pleasant ride down.

She came barreling towards him and right before she came within striking distance Kal put his fists together and used his increased speed and strength to hit her as hard as he could.

Diana was sent barreling back to earth in a semi conscious state. She could feel the wind rushing past her and the heat from the friction in the air. Her last thought as she lost consciousness before plowing into the ground was that she had never been in this much pain in her life.….

**TBC**...


	16. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15: Truth**_

Ollie slowly opened his eyes and groaned as his body told him how sore he was. He slowly turned his head to the side trying to see where he was. As his eyes finally focused he saw a very bruised looking Dinah lying in a bed across the room.

He took his time as he sat up and groaned when the pain in his stomach increased. He allowed his legs to hang over the edge of the bed as he took in his surroundings. He wasn't in a hospital bed but Dinah was definitely hooked up to some very expensive looking medical equipment.

He set slid off the bed and thanked those above that his legs seemed to be fine. He walked out of the room and made his way down a hallway where he heard voices and could see light shinning through from beneath a door.

When he opened the door he was met with the faces of Bruce, Viktor, Barbara and A.C. they were all wearing the same black pajama bottoms he was currently sporting and a plain white t-shirt. They were in a kitchen type area and both A.C. and Bruce were standing on the opposite side of the counter from Viktor who was sitting on a barstool. He noted that no one in the room seemed particularly happy. He shook his head as he spoke to Bruce. " Don't tell me I got my ass kicked while you walked away for the second time in a row."

Bruce gave a humorous smirk as he responded, " I'm afraid so, but if it helps me and A.C. are the only one's who walked away."

Ollie noticed one name conspicuously absent from the list. " What about Diana?"

A.C. shook his head, " She took a worse beating than anybody, she seems to be healing but she hasn't woken up yet."

Ollie sighed and looked down shaking his head. He had never been involved in a fight with Diana that she hadn't won with relative ease. To think that she was beaten even with the aid of the entire league was unsettling. " Did she at least give him hell before he beat her?"

Bruce shook his head slightly, " We cant know for sure, but judging by the relatively short fight it's safe to assume that whatever trouble she gave him was overcome fairly easily."

Ollie took a deep breath, he wasn't surprised but it wasn't exactly good to hear. " How's everybody doing?"

He turned to Barbara as she gave the update, " Bart's knocked out from the pain killers. He's got a couple of broken ribs but other than that is okay physically. Dinah has a concussion and is pretty banged up but she seems to be doing okay. When me and Bruce found Diana she was pretty banged up, a broken jaw, bloodied up, and a concussion, but it seems that she heals pretty fast."

" How fast?" Not much was known about Diana's abilities and none of them had ever really seen her hurt bad enough to need to heal.

Barbara shrugged her shoulder. " Her jaw reset itself and her wounds have closed, but it's going to hurt like hell when she wakes up." Ollie nodded as she continued, " Bruce and I are fine and A.C.'s chest is bruised but nothing to horrible."

Ollie turned to Viktor who had been kind of quiet. " What about you?"

Viktor slid out of his chair and pulled what appeared to be two large metal poles from his side. It wasn't until he came around the counter that Ollie realized they were crutches. " Other than my bum leg I'm alright."

Ollie quirked an eyebrow at his friend, " Why do you need crutches?" Ollie wasn't even sure Viktor could have a bum leg.

" Clark cut one of the lines in my leg. We don't have the hydraulic fuel to fix it here in Metropolis so I have to wait a few days while Wayne industries gets it to Metropolis." Ollie shook his head, it had been a long time since he had felt utter defeat.

He was broken out of his thoughts by A.C.'s voice. " So what do we do now?"

Ollie and Bruce shared a look, neither sure of what the next step would or should be; And then it hit them, while the league was now painfully aware of Kal's true identity, their were two very important women who weren't.

Simultaneously the thought left their mouth, " We have to warn them."

Kal stood in front of a set of monitors that had been set up in his room. The eyes of his twelve lieutenants stared back at him all with similar curiosity. It had been months since they had spoken as a group and even longer since it had been by videoconference.

" Good afternoon gentlemen, I know you're all fairly busy so I'll try to keep this short"

" I want each of you to put your best team on call. I want them capable of creating a large distraction worthy of drawing a member of the Justice League, but that doesn't have the body count a job like this would usually entail. " He saw the intrigue written across the faces of all of his lieutenants. Only the one from Gotham had courage enough to voice his thoughts.

" Can we ask why you're being so specific?" Kal was impressed by his ability to appear relaxed.

" Last I checked that you answered to me, not the other way around." Kal allowed his eyes to pass over every monitor daring someone to challenge him.

" I think I speak for everyone when I say our teams will be awaiting your command within 48 hours." All but the Gotham lieutenant nodded immediately in agreement. In the end he nodded too and Kal turned back to the monitors in general.

" Make sure they do nothing until I say, the teams will only be needed if I can not handle the situation myself, which is unlikely." With that all of the monitors except for Gotham went dark.

He stared at the man in the monitor and waited for him to speak, when he did Kal sesed amusement. " You know in the years I've served you I've never heard you be so specific in your orders. Generally speaking you trust us to do our jobs."

" Well this is a special situation. Let's leave it at that." He was walking on thin ice, of all his lieutenants this one was the least predictable.

" Only one thing changes a man Kal, and I can only imagine the woman that got to you." Kal could see the eerie smile in the man's red eyes.

" Well keep imagining it Black Mask, because if you come within a mile of her. I'll rip that mask off your face and strangle you with it myself." Kal saw the pure fear momentarily flash across Black Masks features before he became stone faced, he nodded and the screen went blank.

The door to her apartment opened and Lois was shocked to see Ollie, Chloe, and most of all Bruce walk through it.

" What are you two doing here? Don't you realize how dangerous that is?" Ollie held up a hand as both he and Bruce began to start checking behind doors, outside windows, and under all of the furniture. She looked to Chloe who only shrugged her shoulders in response.

The two men nodded to each other and then Bruce spoke. " Look we need to get you two out of here. Me and Ollie will explain everything but right now we don't have time to argue."

Neither Lois nor Chloe knew what was going on, She tried to read Bruce's face but as he wouldn't look her in the eye it was difficult.

She didn't have to say anything as Chloe voiced her opinion for her, " We can't just leave with you and jeopardize months worth of investigating."

" Look Intergang knows who you two really are so please Lois, Chloe for once in your life don't argue with us." Lois went wide-eyed as she stared at Ollie for a moment before turning to Chloe who's looked mirrored her own.

" Now let's go." Ollie opened the door and Bruce walked through it. Lois and Chloe stared at each other for a long time having a non-verbal conversation worthy of the Kents before both following Bruce out the door.

Ollie closed the door not bothering to lock it as he followed. The group went downstairs and quickly stepped into the black limousine.. Ollie and Chloe made their way to the side of the Limo closest to the driver, Bruce sat on the edge closest the trunk as Lois sat awkwardly in the middle.

Despite the awkwardness she didn't waist any time in breaking the silence. " Okay so you better have been telling the truth about our cover being blown because if we just blew it to ease your worrying I'm going to be pissed." She didn't have the heart to scold Bruce as she spoke and directed the entire rant at Ollie.

" We weren't lying Lois, and you don't need to be undercover anymore." Ollie sighed before he continued, " We know who the head of Intergang is, which is how we know your covers been blown."

Both women went wide eyed as Lois pushed down the feeling of disappointment that had bubbled up in her chest. She wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't been the one to break open the Intergang case or if it was because she no longer had a pretext to spend time with Kal, but she thought it was best not to explore that feeling to deeply.

Chloe was the first to voice the question, " How did you find out who he was."

Both women noticed a look pass between Ollie and Bruce before the former spoke again. " Actually Lois figured it out, I just had information that she didn't." Ollie knew he had to do this slowly; just blurting the truth out would only cause problems.

Lois smirked a little triumphantly knowing exactly what he meant, " So I was right wasn't I, Kal was the guy that posed as the Green Arrow for you."

It took Chloe a moment to understand what Lois was saying when she did she put on an even more confused look. " First of all that's not possible, second of all how did you even come to that conclusion?"

It was Lois's turn to look confused now as she quirked a curious eyebrow, " Wait a minute, When I told Ollie my theory he had the same reaction. Why does everyone keep saying that it's impossible."

Chloe shared a look with Ollie before he in turn shared a look with Bruce. Lois's voice cut into the silent conversation, " What does everyone seem to know that I don't?"

Bruce couldn't take it anymore; he was tired of Ollie coddling Lois. It was hard enough to be in this close of proximity to her and hearing her voice made it all the worse it was time to speed up the conversation. " What we all know is that you're old friend Clark Kent and your new friend Kal are the same person, and he's currently the leader on the criminal underworld."

Bruce felt guilty the instant he had said it, it was a lot harsher than he intended it but at least it got the entire point across.

There was a long silence as both Chloe and Lois sat there blank faced. Every time it appeared as if one was going to speak no more than a soft squeak would leave either throat. Lois was the one to finally find her voice as she turned to Ollie. " But…" She shook her head, " Clark's gone."

" No Lois, Clark's very much alive and you've been with him for months." It wasn't possible. Lois's mind kept coming to that conclusion, he was dead…but it would answer so many questions about him. And yet it would make the answer impossible.

" Let me out." All three pairs of eyes went wide at Lois's remarks.

Chloe put a hand on her thigh, " Lois, I don't think that's a good idea."

Lois could feel the tears stinging her eyes as she turned to her cousin, " I said let me out."

Chloe stared her down for a moment trying to read the emotions written on her cousins face. In the end she found she couldn't, whether her own head was to cluttered with thoughts to be of any good or if Lois was so confused that she was impossible to read Chloe didn't know. But she did know to do as Lois wanted.

She knocked on the divider three times signaling the driver to stop and watched in silence as Lois got out of the car. When she was gone she turned to both Ollie and Bruce. " Why didn't you stop her?"

Ollie looked down slightly ashamed of himself in his answer, " Because eventually she's going to go find Clark…

"… And we can't be sure she'd lead us to him voluntarily." Bruce finished the sentence for his friend, and Chloe gave him a curious look. She didn't know what that meant but she did know that it probably wouldn't take away from the confusion spinning in her head.

**TBC…**


	17. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16: Above it All**_

Lois walked into the elevator and took a calming breath. She had never really understood what people meant when they said that they were looking at someone with new eyes, yet she knew that when she saw Clark the saying would fit.

She had been walking for hours trying to figure it all out. While some of the questions she had been asking herself had been answered by the revelation of Kal's identity, just as many new questions had arisen.

How was Clark alive? Why hadn't he told anyone? When had he become this person Kal? She had an idea about the first; after all she still remembered the abilities displayed by the substitute green arrow that night in the alley. Yet the other questions were still a mystery.

She stepped out of the private elevator and made her way past the second set of guards without incident. She wasn't sure if it was because they recognized her or if it was because Kal knew she was on her way up and had instructed them to let her in but frankly she didn't care.

She knocked on the door and waited a moment, when no one she answered she knocked again this time pounding the door slightly harder. After a moment it opened and she was met with the face of her one time best friend and current, well she didn't know what to classify him as. " Hello Kal, or should I say Clark."

She noticed his face harden slightly as he stepped to the side and allowed her to enter his room. She knew that her appearance couldn't have been a complete surprise; after all it wouldn't be a leap to think he was expecting the revelation of his true identity. She turned when he spoke but was surprised by the calm in his voice.

" You know I wasn't expecting you quite this soon. I figured it would be at least a couple of days before you came back." Kal took in her appearance trying to gauge what was going through her head. He could tell that at some point today she had cried but that was about it. Other than the anger that was clearly in her eyes she was a rock.

" Well when you find out someone you cared about is back from the dead you generally want to welcome them back to the world of the living. Of course you were never really dead were you?" They stared at each other for a long moment; Lois was trying to remain calm. Yelling would not get her the answers she wanted; only the man across the room from her could give her those.

Kal made his way to the bar and poured himself a drink not saying a word. He had her answer but knew she wouldn't like it. As he finished pouring the whiskey he looked up to find her staring intently at him. " Do you want the truth?"

" I'd say yes, but I have a hard time believing you'll give it to me. I mean we've spent months together, hell we slept together and you didn't even have the decency to tell me who you were." Lois noticed that her voice had risen through the conversation, she wasn't yelling yet but she was damn close. The most infuriating part to all of this was the calm expression on his face.

Kal took a drink before sighing slightly, " I told you exactly who I am Lois. My name is Kal and I'm still the man you ate dinner with, I'm the man you went to the show with, and I'm the man you slept with. Clark Kent had nothing to do with that."

Lois rolled her eyes, " That's a load of crap, you are Clark Kent. I don't how the hell you turned into this but it's not you."

" You know you seem to be pretty judgmental of who I am now, but seeing as you slept with me and did it when you were supposedly " Laney" no less, I think you're being a little hypocritical.

" Are you seriously giving me a lecture about morals?" Lois stuck her hands on her hips and gave him a disbelieving look.

" Not a lecture, just an observation. For all your accusations of dishonesty you seem to forget that you weren't exactly uprfront with me." Kal knew going on the offensive wasn't a great idea but he felt he had a point.

Lois paused for a second before speaking, and Kal heard the soft anger in her voice " Is the guy who's currently the leader of the worlds largest criminal organization seriously talking about honesty with me?"

Kal stared her in the eye for a moment knowing that he needed to somehow contain her anger. The longer the conversation went on the more likely she was to get past the point of no return.

He took another long sip of his drink before responding, " What do you want to know?"

Lois gave him a slightly disbelieving look, " Just like that, I confront you and you're suddenly willing to tell me everything?"

" I trust you Lois, you may not be willing to let me earn yours. But if telling you what you want to know will keep you in my life I'm willing to do it." He meant every word, it was risky but he couldn't really think of a decision he'd made lately that wasn't.

" You actually think you have a chance of me staying. Of " giving us a chance", she air quoted as she scoffed. " We had lust nothing more. When I'm done taking you down the only time you'll see me is at the court case." Lois didn't know where the courage to say that came from but was glad that she had.

That was until he did something unexpected, he smirked. " Lois, do you honestly believe that. I mean somehow after a six year absence we end up together all over again."

" Hate to break it to you Clark, but there's no again we were never together." She crossed her arms over her chest as a triumphant expression took over her features.

" Maybe not, but there was always a spark between us wasn't there." She opened her mouth to retort but knew she couldn't.

" Well you might be right, but this is the present and I don't associate with scumbags. I'm here for answers not for you." Hurt briefly flashed across his features before a resolve she rarely saw in a man took over.

" How about this you trust me a little bit and I answer all of the questions you thought I never would. From what happened that day in the mine to how I came to be where I am now. Hell I'll even explain what happened all of those years ago in the alley." Her eyebrows narrowed as she tried to find the catch.

" It sounds good, but I thought we established that I've got no reason to trust you." The most disturbing part of the statement to Lois was the small bit of doubt she could sense within her self.

Once again he surprised her with a smirk, " Well then how about a little bit of faith." He walked towards her and she quickly stepped out of the way as he continued towards the balcony. She slowly followed as he came to the railing. Instead of turning around as she expected, he stepped up on the narrow railing of the balcony and then turned around standing as confidently as ever. " A leap of faith to be more precise." He extended a hand as an invitation to join him.

She stepped on to the balcony and shook her head; " You don't actually expect me to stand on the balcony railing as a favor to you."

He shrugged his shoulders, " Actually I expected you to get on the balcony railing for those answers we both know you can't leave here without." She glared and Kal couldn't help but think how sexy she looked when she was angry. He knew it wasn't the right moment but he couldn't help it, there was just something about her.

She sighed, " I swear to god Clark if something happens to me I will so make you pay."

He smirked, " I meant what I said Lois. As long as I'm with you, you're not in any danger."

She didn't want to feel so good about the statement but couldn't deny that she did. She did know that she wasn't going to let him know it. " Let's just get this over with, and these answers better be everything that you promised."

She took her heels off and placed her hand in his ignoring the warm feeling that flooded her at the contact. She let out a little yelp as he lightly pulled her up and wrapped his hands around her waist. She pushed off his rock hard chest forcing him to give her a little breathing room. " Why don't we keep some air between us."

He rolled his eyes and looked down. " Why don't you put your feet on mine."

She stepped onto his feet keeping the distance between the rest of their bodies. " Okay now that we've don't that I think you should know something. I was raised on military bases. You know, airplanes, and helicopters, stuff like that. It's going to take more than heights to faze me. Heck I've been flying since I was a baby."

" Not like that this you haven't." She cocked her head to the side in slight confusion before she noticed it felt as if she was moving. She looked down and realized they were flying, her eyes went as wide as saucers as she flung her self into Clark's chest and latched her arms together behind his back.

" H….H…How is this possible?" They were high above the city now and she saw the shining lights illuminating the city below.

" I promised you answers Lois, this seemed like a way to jumpstart the conversation." She nodded into his chest slightly as she continued to take in the sights, not exactly sure where to begin.

" Why don't you just tell me everything you'd think I want to hear and I'll ask questions from there." A reporter not asking questions, if she weren't the reporter she wouldn't have believed it.

Kal took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he relived the events in question. " Before I tell you how I came to be where I am I guess you should know a few things about me. For one I can do things no mortal can."

She scoffed, " Really and I thought high pressure winds were allowing us to soar over the city."

Kal continued instead of responding to the comment, " One of these is that I'm invulnerable."

She looked up questioningly, " But if that were true then your mom or Chloe would have known you'd be okay."

" That's true but I have one weakness, and that's meteor rock. While the green can kill me there's a type of red meteor rock that alters my personality, it can even go as far as changing who I am." He paused to let it sink in.

" So that's where Kal comes from, he's like your doppelganger only on the inside." It was crazy and yet made sense all the same.

" Yes and no, Kal's just a name I took on when my inhibitions were lowered. In fact it's my birth name. Typically when I get hit with a small amount of meteor rock it drops my inhibition enough to allow me to loosen up. Except that day in the mine something different happened. The explosion was filled with red meteor rock and something different happened. In laymen terms Kal somehow fused with Clark and even took over the dominant role. My inhibitions weren't lowered as much as my perceptions were changed. I wasn't really even the same person. I was Kal just without all the hot-headedness and stupidity. I knew those who knew me would never except who I was now and I ran."

" And look at what you became. You're the indestructible leader of the criminal underworld. What reason would anyone have to worry?" She rolled her eyes.

" You know what, why don't you let me finish the story and then you can make all the comments you want." No matter where or when they were, something's never seemed to change.

" With what I'm able to do I'd be lying if I said that I was okay with answering to a few thugs who can pull a trigger. It took me about a year to bring Intergang under my control and since then I've been expanding the empire and repeatedly solidifying my power." It was weird hearing the cliff notes version of this. He made it sound so simple.

" Now I believe I promised you the explanation behind that night at the alley, but I'm guessing you can put that one together yourself." She nodded her head.

He floated a little bit higher and looked down. " Lois, What do you hear?"

She looked down at all the lights of the city and the cars driving along, Lois closed her eyes and listened intently. " Nothing, I hear absolutely nothing."

He nodded in response " I hear everything, every tear that hits the floor, every gunshot, threat, stabbing, explosion, every scream of pain in this city and farther." She could see a rare moment of weakness on Kal's face, and had become entranced by his speech. " Many like to look at the human race and see it's potential, but with all the evil out there I just couldn't. So I confronted it the only way I knew would work. Evil is always going to be here, but it can be contained and it can be controlled. Look at the statistics on crime since I've taken over Intergang, when you do you'll find that crime's gone down in every major city in the world. I may not be a hero, but I've done more to fight crime than the Justice League has."

He began to descend and Lois was about to speak but he shook his head to signal he wasn't done. " I'm not claiming to be a hero, but I'm not the monster you seem to think I've become. If I were neither you nor Chloe would even be alive. Don't think for a second that people within the organization haven't called for your head. With one meeting I ensured your safety and the safety of everyone around you." They were now staring eye to eye as Lois felt Kal touch down on solid ground.

She stepped off of him and looked at him finally responding, " What, so you stopped some crime. How many crimes have you committed in the past six years in exchange for your so-called control. I mean six years Clark, you turned your back on your friends, your family. On everyone."

He looked down before looking back up scowling, " If you want to talk about turning your back on your friends go talk to Ollie and the rest of the league. Ask them what happened at the club. Once he's told you that story think about the fact that I let them all walk away with nothing more than some bumps and bruises."

She quirked an eyebrow questioningly. " Wait, what do you mean?"

" Ask Ollie, you'll be more likely to believe him than me on this particular subject." He floated up into the air at that but she called after him.

" Wait, after telling me all of that your just going to let me go?" It was hard to believe that she had been given everything she needed and he was just going to let her walk away.

" If you haven't figured it out yet you're on the roof of the Dailey Planet. If you want to write your story and turn me in I'm not going to stop you. I mean it when I say I Care about you more than you know. Beyond that I trust you and I believe that you care about me." He saw a slight blush climb up her neck and couldn't help but smile. He slowly hovered in front of her and cupped her cheek in his hand.

He could see tears beginning to well up a little in her eyes as he brushed her thumb across her bottom lip. He honestly didn't know what would happen from here. He had finally put all of the control in her hands and could do nothing but sit back and wait. This could be the last chance he had and knew he would have to take advantage of it.

It wasn't slow as his last kiss had been, in fact it was full of all the passion and emotion he could put into it. He was surprised to feel her reciprocate in full force as she placed her hands on either side of his face. He begrudgingly pulled away when he felt a tear fall from her eye to his cheek.

He pulled away and stared into her eyes as he floated backwards. Her voice was full of emotion as she spoke. " I…" She closed her eyes and continued as they opened. "Will I see you around?"

" I'm always around Lois." She nodded as she watched him fly off, not knowing what she was feeling, or having any idea of what her next move would be.

**TBC**…


	18. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17: Post Landing **_

Knock…Knock….Knock.

Lois looked at her door from her current seat on the living room sofa. It had been two days since she and Kal had parted ways on the roof of the Daily Planet and she hadn't spoken to anyone since.

She pondered allowing whom ever was on the other side of her door to wait until they got the message, but realized that it was probably one of the league coming to check up on her.

She cracked the door open and was met with a relieved look from Chloe. She opened the door completely and was embraced in a hug by her favorite cousin. " Lo you have no idea how good it is to see you."

Lois smiled, until now she hadn't realized how little time she had spent with her cousin. True they had been living together and they had worked together, but they hadn't truly spent time with each other in what felt like a lifetime.

" It's good to see you to Chloe." They pulled away from each other as they made their way into Lois's living room. There was a rare awkward silence between the two women before Chloe broke it.

" So where have you been the past couple of days?" Chloe looked around the room curiously before turning back to her cousin.

" O you know, just dealing with stuff…. How are you handling everything?" Lois was a little ashamed to admit that she had been so caught up in her own life that she hadn't thought much about how Chloe had been doing the past few days.

Chloe gave a strained laugh before answering, " I'm great, I mean who wouldn't be psyched to hear that their best friend came back from the dead and is currently heading up Intergang?"

Lois gave her a get serious causing Chloe to sigh. " What do you want me to say Lo, I mean I don't know what to think? In my head Clark and Kal are two different people, I mean I want to hate him, but a part of me can't."

Lois only nodded her head in response. She wasn't where Chloe was any more, but that was only because her relationship with both Clark and Kal had been far different from his and Chloe's. Since her flight with Clark Lois had done nothing but contemplate her current situation. She had even dreamt of her and Kal, and what a good dream it had been. She shook herself out of her thoughts when she realized she had missed whatever Chloe had said. " I'm sorry what?"

" I asked how you were doing?" Chloe gave her a genuinely concerned look and Lois knew that she knew to some extent what had transpired between either herself and Kal or herself and Bruce.

She sighed not really in the mood to beat around the bush, " Look Chloe it's been a really long week so why don't you just ask me whatever it is you wanna ask me."

They smiled a little bit at each other before Chloe gave her a curious look and spoke, " What happened the other night when you met up with Clark?"

Lois's eyes went wide, " How did you know about that?"

Chloe's face took on a guilty look, " Look, don't get mad but Bruce and Ollie had you followed after you got out of the Limo."

" They had me what!" Lois stood up and began pacing the room.

" Lois calm down, I know you're mad but you can't really blame them can you?" Chloe had stood also stood willing Lois to calm down with her eyes.

" Calm down. Why should I calm down, do you know how big of an invasion of my pr…." Lois let her sentence trail off as something Chloe said finally set in. " What do you mean by I can't really blame them."

Chloe sighed and gave a half guilty half scolding look, " Look Ollie told me how you figured out Clark was the one in the Green Arrow costume and then Bruce told us both what happened between you and Clark."

" He….I…You know it's not as…." Lois let out a sigh and dropped back on to the couch putting her head in her hands. " When did our lives get so complicated Chlo?"

" Well I'd say it was somewhere between the day I moved to Smallville and the day that you crashed into it." Chloe sat down next to Lois as they both let silence over take them for a moment.

Lois finally turned her head to Chloe, " I don't know how it happened cuz, One minute I'm shooting pool with a guy I'm trying to get information out of, and the next minute I'm waking up next to this guy who…I don't even know how to explain it. "

" Look Lo I'm not going to condone what you did, but I will admit that there was always something unexplainable about you and Clark. Whether he was the great guy who was my best friend, or the scumbag crime lord who I couldn't recognize two feet in front of me. You two apparently have a connection.." They really were best friends; it was the exact same thing Kal had said just more succinct. Lois turned her attention back to Chloe as she continued. " Look Lo, I'd love to sit here and talk about what exactly is going on in that head of yours, but right now Ollie and the rest of the league need to know what happened when you went to see Kal."

Lois opened her mouth fully intent on telling Chloe what had transpired, but she stopped herself when out of nowhere Kal's words rang out in her head. _" If you want to talk about turning your back on your friends go talk to Ollie and the rest of the league. Ask them what happened at the club. Once he's told you that story think about the fact that I let them all walk away with nothing more than some bumps and bruises."_

" You know what Chloe. I think that I'd rather talk to Ollie about this myself." Lois stood and straightened herself out.

Chloe smiled as she stood up relieved Lois was willing to tell them what had transpired, " Well then let's get going."

The elevator doors opened and Chloe and Lois walked into Ollie's apartment. In the room were Ollie, Bruce, and Viktor. Both Bruce and Ollie were staring at Viktor intently. " Okay now bend it thirty degrees back."

They watched as Viktor bent his knee backward and then back to standing position. He smiled and turned to Ollie, " Everything seems to be working just fine."

" Why wouldn't it be?" It was Chloe that had asked the question.

Ollie turned around and greeted her with a kiss before answering. " Well Viktor's kind of one of a kind so we can't always know what's going to happen." He looked up and both his eyes and smile went a little bit wider. " Lois, it's good to see you."

Bruce turned to look at Lois and merely nodded before turning back to Viktor's leg. Lois felt the guilt come to the surface for a moment before returning to the task at hand. " You too Ollie."

There was an awkward silence as eyes bounced around the room. Viktor was the one too brake it, " So I'm going to go because… well frankly I can't stand the tension in the room."

Viktor exited the room as quickly as he could leaving the other four alone with each other. Deciding it better not to let the awkwardness consume them Lois immediately started talking. " Look we can all try pretending that everything is normal but I think we can all agree the reality is way to screwed up to allow that to work."

Ollie smirked slightly as he nodded in agreement. He wanted to be in a bad mood but a part of him couldn't. Chloe was no longer undercover and that was something that brought him immense relief.

He was about to speak but was cut off by Bruce. " Agreed, now why don't you tell us where you've been the past couple of days."

Guilt or no guilt she didn't Lois being talked down to, " Why don't you tell me what you two have been up to. You know besides having me followed."

Both Bruce and Ollie shot Chloe a look, in response she simply shrugged her shoulders, " What, I didn't think it was a secret."

Once again it was Bruce who spoke, their was absolutely no remorse in his voice. " We needed to know where to find Kal. We couldn't be sure you'd lead us there willingly."

" Sure you couldn't, but why do you need my help, from what I understand you didn't have any trouble finding him the first time." She smirked at the surprise written on Ollie's face.

It only took a moment for him to regain his composure, " Well I'd ask how you know about that but judging by the surprise on Chloe's face I'm pretty sure you've spoken to Clark."

" I never denied that I had, but that's kind of my business isn't it?" The look on Chloe's face made her feel bad about having to do it this way but she knew she had to know what Kal had meant.

" Lois, you told me you were going to tell them." Lois could see that Chloe was hurt by the deceit. In truth she hadn't mean to deceive her cousin so blatantly she had only wanted to come and talk to Ollie.

" I'm sorry cuz but I never said that, I'm sorry for misleading you but I came here to get some answers of my own. So before we get into what transpired between me and Clark, why don't you two tell me what happened at the club." Ollie and Bruce shared a slightly confused look. It sounded as if she was a little bit angry but to their knowledge they had done nothing wrong.

" Fine by me," Ollie crossed his arms over his chest and began his story. " When I found out that I was going against Clark I had the entire league assemble in Metropolis. When they got here we went after Kal in full force. In the end he came out on top. I don't know what else to say."

Bruce, Ollie, and Chloe gave Lois the same quizzical look. She was pretty sure she had a similar look on her own face. What could Clark had wanted her to know, it wasn't exactly a shock that the justice league would go after a Crime Lord, so what was so important that he wanted Ollie to tell her rather than himself. A sliver of realization began to come to her. " Ollie, if you knew how powerful Clark was, why would you try to take him on. You'd have to know the damage he could do."

" Everyone has a weakness Lois, I tried and failed to exploit his. Beyond that I thought Diana could take him on but I was wrong." Both Chloe and Lois tilted their heads questioningly at Ollie and this time it was Chloe's turn to ask the question.

" What do you mean you tried and failed to exploit his weakness." Ollie had only told her that the league had fought Clark and Lost, neither had brought up the meteor rock. Ollie because he didn't want to worry her, and Chloe because she thought it was to soon to go that route.

Ollie sighed, " I tried to shoot him with a meteor rock tipped arrow."

And there it was, she knew Ollie didn't mean the kind that had altered his personality. He meant the green kind Clark had said could kill him. " So you went to the club and tried to kill Clark."

Bruce was the one to brake in this time, " You know us better than that Lois, None of us were trying to kill him, only stop him." He paused for a moment and looked her over, " Although I find it interesting that you were so quick to jump to that conclusion."

Lois rolled her eyes at him, " Wow my mind somehow went from Ollie shooting an arrow made of the one substance that can kill him, directly to Ollie trying to kill him. How misguided I must be."

" It's not that simple Lois, I wasn't trying to kill him. Yes the arrow would have hurt like hell, but unless I put it through his heart it wouldn't have killed him. I aimed well above it." Ollie was getting a little angry; he was somehow defending himself for going after Clark. It wasn't as if it was easy to fight a man he had once been friends with, but he couldn't stand idly by when their was someone that dangerous at the helm of Intergang.

Bruce was about to respond but was cut off by Chloe, " Wait a minute Lois, how did you know that meteor rock was the one substance that could kill Clark?" There was a pause and Chloe's face showed her clear intrigue. " What exactly did Clark tell you?"

Lois sighed and decided that the truth was the only option here, " Everything, he told me everything."

Ollie voiced the question before he could stop himself, " And what do you intend to do about it?"

She shook her head and gave a humorless laugh, " I've been trying to figure that out for two days and the answer is that I have no idea." She finally looked up, " but when I do it, you'll be the first to know."

She turned around and walked into the elevator, Chloe took a step forward to try and go after her but Ollie stuck out his arm to block her. " Don't," He shook his head, " I can only imagine what she's going through, if we try to push her in any direction it will only wind up pushing her away." Chloe turned to Bruce for back up but he only nodded in agreement with Ollie.

**TBC**…


	19. Chapter 18 and 19

_**Chapter 18: Ultimatum**_

" I didn't want to come to you but I didn't know what else to do." Kal watched as the normally confident man slumped in the chair across the desk.

They were currently seated in the office of Kal's hotel room. Kal was behind his desk and across from him was Senator Joseph Kellerman. He had his head in his hands and Kal could tell he hadn't slept in at least a day.

Kal flipped through the pictures and shook his head. What was with politicians, they knew the public eye was on them. They knew that reporters loved to find dirt and them apart with it. Yet some of them just couldn't help themselves.

He stood up and made his way to the other side of the desk where he sat on the edge and crossed his arms as he looked down upon the Senator. " Do you mind me asking how you let this happen?"

He looked up and shook his head, " I don't know, we were careful. We went to motels under fake names, never showed any signs that we were anything other than co-workers at the office. We even got those pre paid cell phones that you can throw away when you're done. I don't know how this could have happened."

Kal just looked at the pictures again before looking up, " You realize how much of a cliché you are don't you. I mean you're the Senator having an affair with his secretary."

" I don't need a lecture okay, especially not from you." The anger was evident on his face as he glared slightly up at Kal.

Kal took a deep breath as he turned and set the pictures on the desk behind him before looking back at the Senator. " So what do you want me to do about this?"

Kellerman gave him an exasperated look, " What do I want you to do? I want you to make this go away. I mean if this got out I'd loose my wife. My kids. Not to mention what it would do to my career."

" Yea because it's clear from those pictures that you care o so much about your family. Especially when you're still wearing your wedding ring in most of them." He saw the scorn on the man's face but didn't waiver in the slightest.

" Can you help me or not?" Kellerman stood up and straightened his jacket.

" Well here's the problem, you're a politician. How do I know I can trust you? I mean what's to stop you from turning on me down the line." Kal stood up and made his way back to his side of the desk. He took the pictures and placed them on the shelf behind him, before turning back to the Senator.

" What do you mean you don't know if you can trust me? We've worked together before." Kellerman gave him a clearly frustrated look.

Kal nodded his head, " True, but that was a couple of years ago. You were just a District Attorney who needed evidence to prosecute a few of Metropolis's more notorious criminals. I being the responsible citizen that I am provided you with enough to put them all away for life."

" O don't act like you were being a Good Samaritan, you were getting rid of your enemies." Kellerman was standing now and was clearly frustrated.

" Maybe, maybe not, but that's not the point. The point is that I didn't have to do anything illegal or at least as far as you can prove I didn't. In fact I aided the law thein didn't I? To cover up something like this I'd have to do certain things that the average person might consider to be in the moral grey area." Kellerman sighed deeply at Kal's words finally catching on to what was going on.

" What do you want from me?" Kal picked up a baseball from his desk and began to toss it up and down. It was a signed Babe Ruth ball he had gotten as a gift from a business associate.

A serious look came over his face as he caught the ball and looked at the Senator. " Very soon Senator you're going to find yourself on the committee to determine what contract to accept for the arms manufacturing of the armed forces. For the next ten years. You'll look into every company that makes a bid, you'll weigh the pros and cons and in the end you'll vote to award the contract to N.O.T.P.Y.R.K. industries." Kal crossed his arms over his chest and gave the senator a look that said this was a non-negotiable deal.

He only paused a moment, " And those pictures?"

" As if they were never taken." The senator nodded and Kal noted the slight defeat on the man's features.

He escorted him to the front door and opened it, he was surprised to find Lois standing on the other side about to knock. He quickly recovered and turned to the Senator as he shook his hand. " Well Joe it was good to see you, I look forward to next time." He applied a little bit of pressure to get the message across.

He cast a quick glance at Lois before responding, " As do I, I'll see you next time I'm in town."

Lois watched the senator make his way into the elevator as Kal watched Lois trying to gauge what was going on in her head. She turned back to him and shook her head, " Wow Clark I didn't know you were friends with a Senator."

She stepped past him and made her way into the living room, he smirked wondering what could have made him think for a second she wouldn't recognize him. " Well what can I say? I'm a popular guy."

" So I've noticed." Kal took in her appearance; she looked much better than she did when he had left her on the roof of the planet. She was wearing blue jeans with a black sweater and the determination on her face covered up any other emotion she might have been feeling.

There was a long pause before Lois rolled her eyes and spoke, " Aren't you curious why I showed up here in the middle of the day?"

" Very, but if I know you as well as I think I do then you'll tell me when you're ready to tell me and not a minute before." She smirked and he couldn't help but grin in response.

" Well I guess I can't argue with you there." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked around the room shaking her head at her surroundings. " You know I still can't believe Clark Kent lives here."

" You're changing the subject." Kal took a deep breath and finally took the initiative, " Is it good news or bad?"

" Well that's really up to you. You see I've spent a lot of time thinking about this." She shook her head and gave a humorless laugh, " And if you were anybody else that story would have been on the front page of the planet this morning."

He was about to speak but she cut him off, " But the problem is that you are you and I just can't bring myself to announce to the entire world that Clark Kent is the root of a decent percentage of the worlds problems."

" I also can't protect you knowing what you've done." She paused and took a deep breath.

" So what are you saying?" He didn't know exactly what was going on but he didn't exactly have the best feeling about what was about to happen.

" What I'm saying is that you have two options. Option one is that you turn yourself in, confess to the crimes and live with the consequences." She took a deep breath steeling herself against the glare Kal was currently sporting. " Option two is that you don't you go on living your life…and I write the article." There was another long tense pause and yet Lois couldn't help but feel as if a weight had been lifer of her shoulders.

" Anything else?" He couldn't keep the displeasure from his voice as he spoke.

She nodded her head, " Either way you go tell your mother your alive. I would if I could, but I just can't be the one to tell her about who you are now. You owe us both that much."

" If I do it all. If I go to my mom, turn myself in; live in a prison for god knows how many years. What does that mean for you an me." This time he couldn't help but let the hope slip into his voice.

" If you take option one, I visit you every Sunday until you get out. If and when that happens. Well we'll take it from there."

" And if I take options two." They had a staring match that only lasted a few seconds but felt like a lifetime.

" If you take option two then I put everything I have into bringing both Intergang and you down and when you are behind bars, no Sunday visits." He looked into her eyes and knew that she meant every word of it.

" I don't suppose I could convince you to change your mind." He put on a small smile that she returned.

" No, I think you know me better than that." Kal nodded his head in response.

He looked down for a moment. This he hadn't expected, typically Lois was an all or nothing person. He had assumed that she had either come to tell him she was printing the article or that she cared about him too much to do so and wanted to see where things led. Apparently she had found the middle ground and he had no idea how to handle it.

" How long do I have to decide?" The emotion had left his voice as he tried to be unreadable.

" A week, and then I print the article." He nodded but wasn't sure exactly what to say. He didn't want to say anything he'd regret and in the end decided to remain silent.

When he didn't respond Lois figured it was time to leave, she had said what she needed to say and that was that. She slowly made her way past Kal and had one foot out the door.

" Wait." She stopped and turned around to see that Kal had come right up behind her.

" One kiss, then you can go." Her eyes went wide, she definitely wasn't expecting that after her ultimatum.

" How would that help anything?"

He shrugged his shoulders, " It'd make me feel better."

She quirked an eyebrow at him, but then shook her head as she looked down, " I'm sorry Clark, not this time." With that she turned around and made her way to the elevator.

She took one last look at Kal and for the first time since back in Smallville saw indecision in his eyes. She stepped into the elevator and when the door closed she fell back against letting her head rest on the door. She knew she had to do it, she knew it was the right decision, she even knew it was for the best. But that didn't mean it was easy.

Lois stepped out of the cab and on to the sidewalk at the front of her building. It was nighttime and she couldn't believe how fast the time had flown. She had spent the day writing the article she had threatened Kal with. She had done it at the planet on a Sunday so that it would be at its lowest capacity. Sure there had been people there but much less than on any other day of the week.

It had taken her hours of work and a mixture of both research and simply remembering the events of her life to write it but in the end she was happy with what she had written. It had also been surprisingly therapeutic to put it all onto paper, she thought that it would take her days to do without constantly second guessing herself or feeling guilty for not somehow saving Clark from himself. But in the end she knew that there was nothing that she could do and that he had to make this decision himself.

She had almost made it to the door of her building intent on a good night's sleep when she felt a sharp pain in her neck and everything went black.

_**Chapter 19: Promises**_

Kal turned over in his bed and shut his eyes tight trying to clear his head. All day he had been thinking about Lois's ultimatum, it had annoyed him today and it was only worse now that it was preventing him from sleeping. It was 2 a.m. and he had an early morning meeting with a political contact and wanted to be on the top of his game.

There was a knock at the door and he pushed himself off the bed and cursed whoever it was that had the nerve to bother him at this hour. His people knew that if he wasn't at one of his businesses it typically meant he wanted to be left alone.

He threw on a pair of sweatpants and a grey t shirt as he made his way to the door. He opened it to find a boy who couldn't have been older than 20 standing on the other side. He looked vaguely familiar but Kal couldn't place him. " What do you want?"

The boy was clearly nervous as he stuck his hand out. Kal looked down to see an envelope within the shaking hand. " This is for you, my boss said to open it immediately."

Kal took the envelope and scowled, " And who's your boss?"

" He said the envelope would answer all of your questions." Kal watched as the boy's eyes jumped back and forth refusing to make eye contact.

" I doubt it." He nodded his head towards the elevator and the boy practically ran straight to it.

Kal closed the door and went to the intercom, " Tony there's a guy about to exit the elevator, have him followed."

" Sure thing boss."

Kal stepped away from the intercom and made his way back into the living room and opened the envelope. He quirked an eyebrow at the writing on the back of a Polaroid telling him to turn his videoconference screen to channel five. He flipped it over and his eyes burned with rage. He took a deep calming breath that had no effect.

He walked over to the large screen flipped it on and turned it to channel five. His stomach tightened at what he saw. Black Mask was standing on the left side of the screen recline against a plain grey wall. On the right was an almost identical scene to that of the picture. Lois was in the same outfit she had been wearing earlier in the day at his apartment, he couldn't tell if it was the lighting of the room or the reception of the video phone but they appeared dirtier than they had been. Her feet had been tied together and then secured to a chair, her hands had been tied behind her back and their was tape over her mouth. Kal's anger shot up to heights he hadn't ever experienced when he saw the fear in Lois's eyes.

It took all of Kal's will power not to put his fist through the monitor as he turned his attention back to Black Mask. The arrogance of his lieutenant radiated through the monitor as he spoke, " Kal, I'm not used to seeing you out of your suit. I take it you got my message."

Kal's voice shook with anger as he spoke. " If you harm one hair on her head I swear to god that I'll…"

" You'll shut your mouth is what you'll do. I'm done taking orders from you Kal." Even through the mask Kal could swear he saw a triumphant smile, " For five years I answered to you. You took my city from me and kept me on a leash taking over half my profit." He had come closer to the camera and was pacing slightly as he continued his monologue, " I've spent more nights than I can count trying to get past your armor and find a weakness, and for the first time in my life. I couldn't find one." He stopped pacing and stared at the camera. " You were like a machine, you beat back every enemy that came your way, and you increased the power of an organization that was thought to be as powerful as it could possibly." He looked down slightly as he shook his head slowly, " But most impressively of all, you did it without any attachment, nor showing anyone even a single weakness."

This time Kal was sure he saw a smile through the mask just before Black Mask made his way towards Lois. " That is until now." He ran a hand through Lois's hair.

" You take your hands off…" He took a futile step forward.

" I said shut your mouth." Black Mask took a knife and held it to Lois's throat. " Or I'll take my anger out on the girl." Black Mask waited for a moment practically daring Kal to test him, when Kal said nothing he continued. " Now we're going to make a little deal. In exchange for the strippers' safe return, you're going to hand Intergang over to me. In 48 hours I want lists of all of you bank accounts their passwords, signed papers of owner transference of all of your businesses and you'll call a gathering of the lieutenants to formally hand control over to me. Do you understand?"

Kal nodded in response, " Where are we meeting?"

Black Mask shook his head, " I'll call you in 47 hours to tell you that. Why don't you just worry about what I told you to do." He paused as he looked at Lois for a moment and then back to Kal, " I'll see you in 48 hours."

" Wait…" Kal tried to stop him but the screen only became snow and the sound of white noise was the only thing he could hear. After what seemed like an eternity he picked up the monitor and hurled it out the window. The glass shattered as he watched the screen fly over the city.

His mind was racing; there wasn't much he could do. Black Mask was his lieutenant, he had too many connections within the organization for Kal to risk help from within. He knew of Kal's strength, speed, and invulnerability and would be prepared for it. If he were to try and save her himself he would be able to kill Mask and everyone else involved, the only problem was he couldn't be sure Lois would survive.

He ran through all of his options, every one of them leading to a dead end. And then it came to him. He knew what he had to do. In an instant he had changed into his suit complete with a full-length coat. He allowed his rage to consume his entire being and then fueled his determination with it. He stepped out onto the balcony and took off into the sky as fast as he could. He had warned Black Mask what would happen if he came anywhere near Lois, and he had promised Lois that he would keep her safe.

Kal wasn't a man that broke his promises.

" What if we took him by surprise, hit him before he saw it coming?" Diana looked to Ollie for confirmation, but was answered by Chloe

" It wouldn't work, he has super hearing. You won't get within a mile of him without him knowing it. That doesn't even count the insane amounts of security he's put up since your fight at the club." The entire league was sitting in Ollie's apartment trying to figure out where to go from here.

Bart shook his head and gave a sad laugh, " How do you fight a guy who you can't sneak up on, can't take head on, and can't even use his one and only weakness against him."

" Well you know what they say, if you can't beat him, then join him." The entirety of the league turned around and went wide-eyed at the man standing just inside the balcony.

They all stood in a mild shock no one quite believing he was there. The first to react was Bart as his eyes drifted to the vault in which he knew the kryptonite arrow were stashed. " You know Bart you could make a move for the meteor rock, but since you're clearly not at 100 percent yet I'm willing to bet I can get there before you."

Bart turned to Ollie for support but found it in Diana as she stepped in front of the rest of the league. " Why don't you test how I'm feeling?"

" I would, I would but I didn't come here to fight any of you, in fact I came here for help." There was a pause as the words sunk in, none of them seemed to know what to say.

" Surely you must be joking." Diana's brow furrowed as she appraised Kal, it was a ludicrous statement and yet he seemed sincere.

" Do I look like I'm joking?" Kal's eyes passed over every member of the league and finally found there way to Chloe.

They stared at each other slightly longer than the others but both had their attention diverted by Ollie who had a look that was both disbelieving and intrigued. " What do you need our help with."

" You can't be serious!." Barbara was the first to object.

" Are you out of your mind?"

" What are you thinking?"

Both Viktor and Dinah spoke out simultaneously.

Surprisingly enough it was Bruce who spoke out in Ollie's defense. " Let's hear him out."

" You're the last one I'd expect to speak out in his defense." It was Chloe who voiced the thought more than one of them was having.

" Believe me I want nothing more than to start where we left off at the club." Bruce sighed, " But there's only one reason he'd actually think we'd help him. So Kal why don't we skip whatever else we were going to talk about and you tell us what happened to Lois."

Bruce and Kal had a stare down before Kal pulled the picture out of his coat pocket and tossed it to Ollie. He caught and his eyes went wide. " One of my men, Black Mask to be exact kidnapped her. We have about 40 hours to get her back before he kills her."

" How in the hell could you have let this happen?" It was Chloe who was speaking in a voice mixed with both fear and anger.

" I'm powerful Chloe, I'm not god. You of all people should know that."

" That's your excuse, your not god. If it weren't for you she wouldn't even be in this mess." She began to step forward but Viktor stopped her.

" What's wrong big shot couldn't handle one little power struggle?" Barbara crossed her arms over her chest, and Kal could only guess at which reason the disdain was in her voice.

" As much as I'm sure you're enjoying whatever pain and suffering comes my way. You realize that the time you spend mocking me could be spent trying to get Lois back from the hands of a mad man." Kal couldn't help the annoyance in his voice.

" As much as I would enjoy to watch this worm squirm a little, he does have a point." Diana turned back to the rest of the group.

Kal began to step forward when Bruce made his way to the front of the group and got face to face with Kal.

" Before we work together I'm going to set a few ground rules. One we call the shots. Two at the end of all this you're going to stay the hell away from Lois. And three when all is said and done and Lois is back safe. You and all of your friends are going behind bars."

Kal took a step forward to look down at him, " Make all the threats you want, but the fact is we both know you're going to help me get her back and we all know you have nothing on me. I'll do whatever I want with whomever I want, whenever I want, and there's nothing you can do about it. As for Black Mask and his crew, you can have them. " Kal brushed by him and turned to the rest of the group. " Now why don't we get to work."

" One more thing." It was Ollie who spoke, " We do this straight, no killing. We take them down and arrest them."

Kal held up three fingers, " Scouts honor."

The entirety of the League including Chloe scowled as both the league and Kal got to work.

**TBC**…


	20. Chapter 20

_**Chapter 20: A Common Enemy**_

Black Mask and his crew were playing poker in the building they were currently holding Lois. She watched as one of the men lost the hand and smacked the table in anger. From beside her a guard called over to the game. " Hey boss, you mind if I take a smoke break."

Mask didn't even turn away from the cards as he spoke, " What's wrong, guarding the stripper too boring for you."

" Well she is tied to a chair, not t mention the only exit is past you. Now if I were the one tied to a chair this would be interesting." He looked Lois up and down and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off his face.

Black Mask stood up as he chuckled slightly, " Go ahead I'll watch her." The guard nodded as Mask made his way over to Lois. He pulled a chair in front of her and sat facing her as he rested his arms on the chair back. " Are you comfortable?"

Lois simply glared back at him, not even bothering to try and speak through the duct tape on her mouth.

He reached out and pulled the tape off her face and it took all of Lois's will power not to show any sign of discomfort. She took a few deep breaths as Mask stared her over. " What makes you different from every other woman?"

Lois glared back, " The fact that I'm tied to a chair and sitting across from a psychopath."

Lois had to admit that it was eerie staring at the man across from her, his mask allowed no emotion to show through aside form the anger that seemed to radiate from the red eyes. Knowing that at the moment he was anything but angry and the combination was slightly odd.

" That's not what I meant. What I meant was what about you is so alluring that the great and powerful Kal couldn't resist." When she did nothing but stare in response she sensed the anger creep into his voice. " If you don't feel like talking I can always put the tape back over your mouth."

" Well seeing as I'm not a mind reader I can't really know what's going on in Kal's head can I?" It was true enough, she might know Kal a lot better than pretty much anyone, but a large part of him was still a mystery to her.

" You definitely have a mouth on you, although I'm sure Kal put it to better uses than I have." She glared as harshly at him as she had ever glared at anyone.

" Like you said, I'm very alluring." She continued to glare although she could tell his demeanor had lightened. He was about to respond but was interrupted by the man at the bank of security monitors.

"Boss we've got company." She watched as Mask placed the duct tape back over her mouth before turning around.

" So Kal decided to play Russian roulette with his girls life?" She watched as he not so subtly reached for the knife in his pocket.

" Actually no, in fact we have a completely separate problem. The suits found us." She watched as Black Mask slowly removed his hand from his pocket, and was relieved to find that it was empty.

" The league…" Mask paused clearly deep in thought.

One of his men gained the courage to speak, " Do you think Kal got them to do his dirty work."

Black Mask answered almost immediately, " No, he wouldn't risk his anonymity by going to the league for help. They're either here for me, or because someone saw us and reported the kidnapping. I'm guessing the former."

As Lois watched the criminals decide on what to do a strange sense of calm came over. True she was currently kidnapped by a lunatic, but she knew that Clark had gone to Ollie for help, and that if he was working with the league, there was hope not only for herself but for him as well.

_Earlier that night…_

" So how did you find her, according to my records this is building is an abandoned factory." Viktor looked out upon the factory from high above. The league and Kal were standing on the old water tower on the outskirts of Metropolis.

" I listened for her pulse, when I picked up on it I found her here. I would have gone in after her but the building is lead lined." Kal surveyed the landscape hoping to find a weak point in the system.

" You can do that, identify people's pulses." Ollie couldn't help but be impressed with what Clark had become. True he had gone down the wrong path but he was no longer the boy who was to scared to embrace who he was. He was now a man used to being in control and judging by what Ollie had just learned, a man who knew how to use his abilities.

" I have sensitive ears combine with an eidetic memory, I could zone in on her breathing pattern if I really wanted to." The league exchanged looks before Bruce spoke.

" Alright he's expecting Kal not the league, so he'll be prepared for him and by extension Diana and Bart. He won't however be prepared for the rest of us. That gives us the element of surprise." The league nodded in ascent but apparently not everyone agreed.

" One problem their bats, if you sneak up on him he might assume your me and kill Lois." Bruce glared back at Kal but before he could speak he was cut off.

" And what do you suggest?" Barbara turned her head to Kal.

" What I suggest is that someone volunteer for bait duty and go intentionally trigger one of the alarms. One of those security cameras will see you and Black Mask will think it's only the league and not harm Lois." Kal spoke much calmer than Ollie or Bruce would have liked given the situation.

Diana gave a skeptical look, " So you expect one of us to be the bait. That's not something I feel comfortable with given where the idea came from."

" What's wrong, scared you can't handle it." Kal smirked arrogantly and Diana got in his face.

" When this is all said and done, I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face." She took one more step forward and got within a inches of him

" The last time you tried that, you ended up unconscious for a couple of days, and I ended up without so much as a bruise." He stood is ground not scared in the least.

" Hey." A.C. got in the middle of them putting distance between the two. " This is not the time, let's get Lois out of here safe and then you two can tear each other to pieces for all I care." He was definitely agitated and didn't want to have to deal with a super powered ego trip.

" He's right you two, whether we like it or not for the purposes of tonight we're a team. The better we work together the quicker we get Lois back, and the quicker we can pick up where we left off." The all turned to Ollie and exchanged understanding looks, as they seemed to come to an understanding.

" Fine, I'll be the so called bait." Diana made a move to take off but was stopped by a hand on her arm.

" It can't be you Diana, you're density and strength could be misconstrued as being related to Kal. It needs to be someone that Black Mask could only recognize as being part of the league." Without even waiting for the rest of the league's approval he leapt from the water tower and made his way towards the factory.

" Viktor follow him and o shut down the power, when you've done that signal us and Kal and Diana will come in as back up. The rest of us will wait outside the factory and pick up any henchmen that manage to escape." He nodded before leaping off of the tower.

" Diana go airborne and wait for the signal, everyone else form a perimeter around the building and make sure that everyone of Black Mask's men get caught." The all nodded and scattered as Diana launched into the air. Kal was about to speed around to the back of the building but Ollie grabbed his arm and indicated for him to stay.

When they were alone he turned to Kal, but was cut off when Kal spoke first, " If you're about to give me a lecture don't bother. I said I'd let you take Black Mask in okay."

"Good to know, but that's not what this is about. I need to know what you plan on doing once this is over." They stared at each other a moment, Ollie refused to flinch or break the silence.

Kal paused and considered his old friend before shaking his head. " This is a conversation we can have later. Right now I'm going to focus on Lois getting out of this safely we can work out a personal problems later."

Ollie was about to retort but was never given a chance as Kal sped off and made his way to the other side of the building.

Once their Kal forced himself to relax and watched the factory, it wasn't long before he saw a few henchmen run out of the building before Bruce put them down. He had to admit that for a normal guy he had skill.

He waited and observed and once ten minutes had passed and the laser grid was still up he began to get worried. He looked and noticed that the rest of the league was as ready as ever and appeared calm as could be, he almost felt bad for kicking the crap out of them. Almost.

He was broken out of his thoughts by Viktor's voice in the earpiece the league had provided for him. " Okay, the grid is down but I haven't heard from Batman. Proceed with caution team."

He looked up to see Diana barreling through the roof, he shook his head. " So much for surprises."

With that he super sped through the wall and into the factory where he was met with three henchmen. The first took a swing at him that Kal easily caught. With a shove he sent him into the second man before allowing the third mans hand to land. The henchmen cursed as his wrist broke on Kals chest. Kal simply picked him up by his chest with both hands." Where is she?" His eyes blazed orange as he spoke.

" She's in there man, through that door. Just don't kill me please. I…I have kids to feed." Kal rolled his eyes, it was amazing how many criminals had kids to feed at times like this. He knocked him out before dropping to the floor.

He took a few steps before kicking the door down hard enough to send it three feet through the room. What he saw when he walked in was not what he expected. Lois was still tied to the chair but on the other side of the room Black Mask was holding a gun to Batman's hand while Diana stood about ten feet away.

" You son of a bitch, I don't know how you convinced the justice league to help you but I'm going to make you pay for this." Kal didn't even respond as he began to walk casually towards Lois.

" One more step towards he and I put a bullet in his head." He heard the confidence in Black Mask's voice and decided to put an end to that quickly.

" Go ahead." He began to untie the Lois from the chair by hand as he spoke, " Do you think I care if you kill him. I have what I came for, She's safe now and that's all that matters." He untied Lois's hands and then removed the tape as gently as possible.

" You swine." Diana looked to Kal, " He risks his life to help you and this is how you repay him."

Kal didn't even look at her and kept his eyes on Lois, " Are you okay?"

The tenderness and calm in his voice surprised her, but all she did was shake her head in response to preoccupied with trying to figure out who exactly was on whose side.

" I'd hate to brake up this touching reunion but we're kind of in the middle of something here." It was Black Mask's voice.

Kal picked Lois up and turned, he walked over to Diana and passed her off to the glaring woman. " Take her to safety I'll handle this."

" Like hell I will, you can take her to safety and I'll handle this." Diana was glaring, normally Lois would have jumped out her arms and walked her self but was to enthralled with what was going on around her to do anything but stare.

" Diana...go." Diana turned to Bruce who had uttered his first words since Kal had walked in.

" But.." Diana was once again cut off.

" NO, just take Lois and get her out of here." Diana paused as her eyes bounced back and fourth before she finally nodded and exited the room but not before shooting Kal a warning glare.

" Well it looks like we're back where we started Kal me, you, and a hostage." Kal looked at Bruce for a moment trying to figure out what the man was thinking. Kal never would have put his life in the hands of Bruce and was surprised he would do the same.

He turned his focus back to Black Mask and the gun. " Actually I now have the advantage. I don't care about the hostage. Go ahead and kill him, either way you die and I sleep like a baby."

Black Masks eyes bounced around the room clearly realizing that he had been backed into a corner. He once again shared a look with Bruce and was once again impressed by the complete absence of fear. He was drawn back to Black Mask's voice.

" Well if die either way, at least I'll be remembered." Black Mask tightened his grip on the gun and Bruce closed his eyes in anticipation. He had always known that he would one day pick a fight that he couldn't win he just hadn't thought this would be the one.

Kal rolled his eyes before super speeding into Black Mask sending him careening into a wall. The rush of wind combined with Black Mask's scream gained Bruce's attention and he opened his eyes surprised to see Kal standing beside him and Black Mask either unconscious or dead on the floor. As if he could read his mind Kal spoke.

" I kept my word, he isn't dead. Although he probably has a concussion." Bruce gaped at the man who was clearly restraining himself from finish off the criminal on the ground.

" You saved me." It was somewhere between a question and a statement, it wasn't often Bruce was confused but this was one of those times.

Kal turned to the to face Bruce when he spoke this time, " You helped me save Lois, I wasn't going to repay the favor by letting him put a bullet in your head, but make no mistake we're even.

With that Kal and Bruce silently made their way back to the rest of the league, and the woman they both loved.

There was an awkward silence between the two as the league dealt with the police. They were currently standing on the very water tower that the night had begun on. Every one had thought it best that the police not know Lois was involved, after all Black Mask would only be able to say that he had kidnapped a stripper.

" I'm surprised you were willing to go to them for help." Lois turned to Kal and looked him over. He was observing the police activity with more interest than Lois had expected.

" I promised to keep you safe, this was the best way to do that and I wasn't going to let my pride get in the way." He finally turned to look at her and Lois was surprised to find he wasn't betraying any of his emotions.

She shook her head as she looked down, she took a deep breath not quite believing what she was going to say. " I appreciate what you did for me I do…but this doesn't change anything. You still have to make a choice."

" You know I should probably be insulted that even after tonight one of the first things you say to me is that you still want me to choose between a life completely alone, and a life in which I'm alone for all but about an hour a week." Lois could definitely see emotion creeping into his façade now, the only question was whether it was sadness or anger.

" Probably, but I wouldn't be me if I told you anything else." She gave a small sigh of relief when he smiled at her.

" I can't argue with that." He paused as he cupped her cheek, he remained an arms length away, and after the night she had been through she couldn't help but place a hand over his. He was about to say something but both eyes jumped as both Bruce and Ollie dropped onto the water tower. Kal took a couple of steps back and scowled.

" This is your chance to turn yourself in Clark, if you do it right now I promise the entire league will help you in anyway we can if you do." It was Ollie offering and both Bruce and Lois were a little surprised. She would have argued but couldn't deny that she was hoping Kal would take him up on the offer.

Kal only nodded before turning to Lois, this time she could definitely tell that it was anger on his face, " You'll have my answer soon."

They then watched as Kal took to the air and didn't look back.

**TBC**…


	21. Chapter 21

_**Chapter 21: A Choice is Made**_

" How are you feeling?" Chloe stepped into the guest room of clock tower apartment she shared with Ollie.

Lois looked up from her computer and smiled slightly, " I'm doing fine cuz, how about you?"

" I'm better now that you're back." She made her way over to the bed and sat down beside Lois.

" So I'm betting you're here to find out what Clark meant when he said he'd have my answer soon." Lois smirked at the wide-eyed look on her cousin's face.

Chloe finally recovered and shrugged her shoulders, " Well I can't say that it isn't on my mind, but come on its not exactly small news."

Lois sighed, " Do we really have to go over this now. Can't I at least wait until I have his answer? After all the original plan was to tell you then."

" Well if you're planning on telling me soon anyway why not just tell me what's going on now so that I don't drive me and everyone else crazy." They smiled at each other before Lois rolled her eyes. Both had to admit that it was good to be back in their own lives.

As she spoke she instantly became serious, " Fine but don't freak out because I did what I thought was best, and at the moment I don't think I could handle it."

Chloe nodded her head as she became serious, " I promise, now what exactly is going on?"

Lois turned her computer around and showed Chloe the article she had written titled, King From Beyond The Grave, it didn't take Chloe very long to figure out what that was about.

" This is the article I'm going to print if Clark doesn't turn himself in. I told him that he had two choices; the first is that he turns himself in and I visit him every Sunday until he gets out and then we'd take it from there. Or he could choose not to turn himself in at which point I would print this article before finding a way to put him behind bars myself."

Chloe stared at her in shock for a moment, " Wow."

Lois stood and started pacing, " Look Chloe I know I it may not have been the best decision, but it was the only one that felt right to me so you can say whatever you want but I'm not going to feel bad."

" Actually I was going to say that I was impressed. I don't know what I would have done in you situation especially considering the…connection between you and Clark."

Lois plopped onto the bed and gave Chloe a hug before falling onto the bed and running a hand down her face. " What does it say about me when I have a connection with the quite possibly the most powerful criminal in history."

" Lois I'm not saying it's a great thing but we both know it's much more complicated than that. I mean the connection was there back in Smallville it only makes sense that it would still be there today…" She paused and sighed, " I just with it would have been Clark here today instead of Kal."

Lois sat up and gave her a pointed look, " You do realize they're the same person right."

Chloe rolled her eyes back at Lois, " Of course I know that it's just… they may have the same body but and they may have a lot of similarities but Clark Kent will always be the guy who was my best friend and own personal super hero. Kal is just his evil twin."

A heavy silence fell over them as Lois thought about her cousins words, she didn't agree but was happy that Chloe had found a way to accept everything. While Chloe looked at them as two different men Lois just couldn't do it. Yes she saw Kal, but there had been a handful of moments that she had seen the farmboy from Smallville and couldn't help but hope he would show up again and turn himself in.

Kal landed on the balcony of the clock tower and paused. He knew that Lois had been here for the past couple of nights and probably wouldn't leave until a few to come. It seemed that lately he had been having a lot of these life-altering moments. He ran a hand through his head but and was about to make his way inside but was surprised when the balcony door opened and Ollie stepped out.

Kal immediately x-rayed him and was surprised that he had neither meteor rock or lead on himself or anywhere in the vicinity.

Ollie saw the squinting and shook his head, " Don't worry Clark, there's no meteor rock here. It's still in the vault, I figure since it didn't do me any good the last time it wasn't worth trying again any time soon."

Kal nodded but attuned his senses to make sure that no one else would surprise him, " I came to talk to Lois not to cause trouble. So if you could get her I would appreciate it."

" You know what you're doing to her isn't fair. You're putting her life in danger by simply spending time with her." Ollie stood to face him making sure to stay calm.

Kal quirked an eyebrow, " What, and you think Chloe's any safer with you. Or that Lois was any safer with Bruce. Please, you're deceiving yourself."

" That would probably be true if it weren't for one thing, we have secret identities and you don't." Ollie crossed his arms over his chest as he stared into Kal's eyes.

" Maybe so, but if you really want to push this theory perhaps I should spread those identities to the rest of my organization." Kal smirked.

Ollie simply shrugged his shoulders, " You could, but you won't you proved the other night that you were willing to risk it all to save Lois. You wouldn't put her in jeopardy by doing that."

He nodded his head, and then shook himself out of this moment they seemed to be having, " Look we can play verbal back and forth all night, but we both know it's not going to lead anywhere. When this is all said and done, no matter what happens. We're still enemies."

Ollie nodded his head, it was an odd feeling. He had to admit it was oddly nice to be talking to Clark again after him being absent for so long but he knew that once the league had a plan of attack he would have to take Clark down. " I wish we were fighting side by side instead of against each other. You would have been a hell of an addition to the league."

" Well you know I was never much into the teamwork thing. Now days I prefer being on top. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go talk to Lois." This time Kal went into the apartment himself, not bothering to wait for Ollie's permission.

He made his way towards Lois's heartbeat until he came across a closed door. He knocked twice before opening it and was met with the surprised stares of both Lois and Chloe. He decided against another conversation like the one he had just had with Ollie and directed his attention solely at Lois. " Can we talk…in private?"

Lois took a deep breath and stood up stopping Chloe from following with a hand on her shoulder. " Sure." She followed silently and was a little surprised when he led her to the roof.

" You seem to have an affinity for the outdoors." She smirked as the door to the roof closed behind them and she made her way to the ledge and got a view of the Metropolis skyline.

" Well when you can fly roofs tend to be an annoyance." She turned around to find him with a smile on his face. The cold air caused her to shiver; she wished she had remembered a coat.

She shook her head when she looked up to see Clark with an arm extended towards her and his full-length coat in his hand. She took it and smiled, " What's that old saying, you can take the boy out of the farm, but not the farm out of the boy."

" They also say old habits die hard. Kind of like you giving me a hard time." The smiled at each other as he came to stand by her as they both looked out onto the city.

"On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies." He didn't look at her as he spoke and she had to admit she had no idea what she was talking about.

" Okay, is that supposed to mean something?" She knew it had to do with his decision she just didn't know what it meant.

" It's the first thing my birth father ever said to me, well he didn't really say it to me but it was the message he left with me before he gave me up. I spent a lot of time contemplating his words when I was younger." He shook his head and out of instinct she placed a hand on his arm.

" Rule them with strength, that thought haunted my thoughts longer than I thought possible. I didn't know if the power scared me, or if it was the thought of what I would have to do to fulfill the destiny that had been laid before me but I knew I didn't like it, and that I wanted nothing to do with it." He turned his head and she urged him to continue with her eyes. She was drawn into the speech and couldn't have moved if she tried.

" In the next message I received from him he warned me that because of who I was, of who I was going to be that I would be a danger to everyone I cared about. From that moment on it was my greatest fear, that I wouldn't be strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, to keep everything and everyone I cared about safe. Yet I couldn't leave them, I couldn't do what needed to be done for and I paid for it again and again."

He sighed, " And then came that day in the mine, suddenly the answer was simple. Run away and never look back. Build a new life and allow everyone to move on. It was a good plan, it worked well enough after all I was happy enough, everyone else was safe what was to regret."

His hand came up to cup her cheek as tears stung both of their eyes. Lois knew where this was going but still held on to hope, " Then you came to my club, and for whatever reason I didn't turn you away. Within a year your life was already being used against me and I almost lost you."

" It wasn't your fault, that was one lunatic with a massive inferiority complex. You don't have to do what I know you're thinking about doing. Ollie said the league would help, maybe in exchange for helping the government they'll give you leniency, you might even get to serve your time helping the F.B…."

Lois's rambling was cut off by a searing kiss from Kal, it was filled with every bit of passion, loving, caring emotion Kal and Lois returned it with equal fervor hoping to keep him there as long as she could. Her tongue slid past his lips and she heard a slight moan from him. She could feel the tears slide down her cheeks, knowing that they would land on Kal and not caring in the least. After what seemed like hours he started to pull back with a few lighter kisses.

He placed her face in both of his hands when he spoke again, " Whether I'm here, or I'm in prison I'm still me. You will always be in danger if I am in your life in any fashion, your Sunday visits would just bring about another Black Mask. As of right now no one knows that you are in fact Lois Lane and not just another dancer. By leaving now I know your safe, therefore it's my only option."

He slowly lifted into the air never breaking eye contact, " Goodbye Lois,"

With that he disappeared before her eyes, she closed them and let the tears fall freely. When she was composed enough to speak she looked to the place that he had last been, " Goodbye Smallville."

**TBC**…


	22. Chapter 22

_**Epilogue**_

Kal took off his jacket and tossed it on the chair of his room. He poured himself a drink as he turned the television on. " …With more on that story we turn to our reporter in the field Karen Kowalski."

" Thank you Chet, I'm here reporting live from Metropolis Federal Prison where earlier tonight an undisclosed amount of prisoners reportedly over powered their guards and escaped. While we don't know the details yet, we do know that a massive manhunt is underway…" Kal picked up his phone and dialed his man Keys.

" Do you have him?" He muted the television as he waited.

" Yea we have him boss what do you want me to do with him?" From the tone of the man's voice Kal knew what he wanted to do.

" Just bring him to me, I want to deal with Black Mask personally." There was a pause on the other end of the line as Kal waited for a response.

" Isn't that kind of risky boss? It would be easier to just get rid of him here." Kal had chosen Keys for this job because the man also had a personal vendetta against Mask, it wasn't surprising he wanted to be the one to do away with him.

" Normally I'd say you were right, but I told him what would happen if he crossed me and I'm a man of my word." He let a little bit of an edge creep into his voice as he spoke, making sure that the message got across.

" I understand. We'll have him in Monte Carlo within A.S.A.P." With that the line went dead and Kal hung up the phone.

Over the past couple of weeks rumors had filtered throughout the organization that Black Mask was organizing an escape attempt. Originally Kal was going to let him rot in prison but when he had gotten news of the escape he decided that Black Mask was too much of a threat to be allowed that courtesy. Two phone calls had been all he needed to arrange Black Mask's escape and subsequent capture. The other men were all men within the organization who had been loyal and not turned on anyone when arrested. As reward they were broken out as well and were currently on their way to work for Intergang internationally.

He sighed and quickly found his way into one of his trademark all black suits. He made his way out of his hotel room and down the elevator and stepping out into the casino. The minute his foot left the elevator four-body guards appeared to escort him. As unnecessary as they were they kept people away from him. At the moment he wanted to gamble not deal with business.

He made his way to the high stakes blackjack tables and sat down at an empty one. His bodyguards set up a perimeter as a dealer arrived at the table. " Good evening sir."

Kal only nodded in response as the casino manager arrived placing his chips in front of him. " The table limit tonight is ten grand a hand." When Kal didn't respond the man continued, " Would you like something to drink, or perhaps a specific cigar while you play?"

" I'd like some scotch." The manager nodded his head and was back moments later with the drink. With that he left leaving only Kal and the dealer.

He sat there for a few hours playing until he was up approximately 200,000 dollars. Deciding that he should walk away before he hit a bad streak he stood up and straightened his suit jacket preparing to walk back to his hotel room. His path was however blocked by an attractive blonde who had obviously been waiting for the opportunity.

" Must be lonely playing blackjack all by yourself." She stepped up close to him and ran her hand inside his jacket.

" I had the dealer to keep me company." He made to step past her but she once again blocked his way.

" Yea but I'm guessing he's not as…friendly as I am." She leaned her entire body against his and bit her bottom lip.

Kal gently placed his hands on her upper arms before pushing her away. " That may be true, but I wasn't looking for a friend tonight."

With that he made his way past her and signaled to one of the guards to make sure she didn't follow him. He made his way back up the elevator and into his suite. He slowly made his way into the office and fell into the chair behind his desk. He flipped open the screen to his laptop and waited for it to boot up.

He opened a secure file and typed in the password as he relaxed into the back of the chair. A lone picture came up and he stared at wondering if his life was ever as simple as this photo made it look.

He was staring at a picture of Lois being hugged by himself. She had her eyes shut tight and was clearly trying to push away from him. He smiled remembering why. He had just been dropped into a dunking booth courtesy of Lois and was returning the favor by giving her a wet bear hug and then shaking his hair like a dog to add to the payback.

After a moment he closed the computer and sighed. That hadn't been his life for a long time, and looking back wouldn't help anything. After all he had moved on once before and he would do it once again.

" So you're sure that you don't want to print the article. It just doesn't seem right letting him get away considering what we know." She could hear the apprehension in her cousin's voice. Normally Lois wouldn't have this conversation over the phone but she was running late and it sounded like Chloe really needed to talk to someone about this.

" Look Chloe, I know it doesn't seem right but what would running the article really accomplish. We don't have enough to put him away, heck we barely have enough to convince Perry to run the article. The only thing this article would do is destroy Mrs. Kent." Lois sighed keeping this from Martha was almost worse than not writing the article.

" That's just another thing, I mean doesn't Martha have a right to know that her son is alive." Lois paused, she had been debating this a lot but kept coming back to the same answer.

" Maybe Chloe, I just keep thinking that she's better off keeping the image she has of Clark from back then rather than seeing what he's become. She's lost so much already why take away the good memories she has left." It felt awful, and yet it felt like the right thing to do.

" I know you mean it's just…" Chloe sighed not really " Hard I guess."

Lois nodded in agreement even though she knew Chloe couldn't see her on the other end of the line. " What do Ollie and the rest of the league have to say about all of this."

" They actually agree with you, although I think their probably going to continue trying to take down Intergang. What can I say they are the Justice League." Lois smiled slightly in response; she couldn't really expect anything less.

There was an awkward pause, on some level Lois knew that it would be a while until things went back to normal and every conversation didn't have a tense undertone to it. When they were in person it was easier especially at work, but over the phone there was this constant need to fill the silence. Luckily for her Chloe decided to pick up the slack.

" Where are you anyway? Perry's freaking out without you." Chloe laughed as she heard a yelling in the background.

" I told you I've racked up a ton of sick days, and we did get Perry that article detailing the fall of Black Mask and his organization. Even if he did escape." Lois didn't know where he was but she was fairly certain he was either hidden very well or six feet under.

" What do you think happened to him?" Lois could hear the undertone in Chloe's voice.

" Your guess is as good as mine." She stopped at a light and sighed as she looked at the clock in her car. She was running late and getting frustrated.

" What's wrong Lo, I'd think that on your day off you would be relaxing." Chloe laughed a little bit at the thought of Lois relaxing with a scowl on her face

Lois laughed awkwardly in return as the light turned green and she turned down a street before pulling into the parking garage.

" Hey Chloe I gotta go but I'll see you later for dinner okay?" She knew her voice was a little bit shaky but hoped her cousin didn't notice.

Apparently she wasn't that lucky. " Lo, are you okay you sound a little weird."

" Yea Chloe I'm fine I'm just a little bit tired, In fact I think I'll go take a nap." She knew it was a little bit out of character but it was plausible enough.

" Okay then, I'll let you go. See you tonight for dinner."

" Okay Chloe I'll see you then." With that both cousins hung up the phone. Lois opened the door to her car and took a calming breath as she made her way to the elevator. As she got in she cursed whoever decided that this annoying music should be playing on the entire ride up.

She stepped out and made her way down the hallway of the office building trying to convince herself that she was overreacting, ' but if that were true you wouldn't be here would you?' She scowled at her own logic as she made it to the door

She paused for a moment before gathering all of her courage and opening the door. She walked by the other women in the room and made her way to the desk. A kind looking older woman looked up and smiled. "Mrs. Lane I take it."

Lois smiled back nervously, " Yes, sorry I'm late."

"It's not a problem Dr. Heart is expecting you. Right this way please." She had never been to a doctor's office in which she hadn't waited at least half an hour, she was thankful for this one exception.

**The end**


End file.
